


The Wingwoman

by LixaDeiton



Category: Original Work
Genre: Anxiety Disorder, Book Club, Coffee, College, Comedy, F/M, FBI, Game Night, Gay, M/M, Private Investigators, Slow Burn, Star Wars References, friends - Freeform, guy x guy, julliard
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-08
Updated: 2018-06-08
Packaged: 2019-01-31 02:00:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 24,186
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12665985
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LixaDeiton/pseuds/LixaDeiton
Summary: "Nath, I have the most brilliant idea ever!" Alexis exclaimed, but no idea could be brilliant at two in the morning when it was thought out by someone running on Red Bull and coffee."This can't be good," he muttered, still trying to wake up."I, the amazing Alexis Wright, will be your wingman!""Don't you mean wingwoman?""Even better!"





	1. Prologue

Nathanael and Alexis had been friends since birth. Set side by side in the hospital’s incubator room for premature children. They had even been born on the same day. Alexis had lost her twin during birth, so she joked that Nathanael survived to be her brother from another mother.  
And it had always been that way. 

Nathanael had created a vague image of their mothers staring down at them, fondly and fatigued. The saddest part of this story started even then. From the day he was born, Nathanael had been rejected, ignored and forgotten by his own father. The man had stayed with Nathanael’s mother during labour, but unlike Alexis’s dad, who stayed by his daughter’s side during the whole ordeal, he never once visited his son during the two months. 

His mother recounted how the happiest moment in her life had been when the doctor told her that her son would survive, sans the asthma and possible failure to develop properly on a mental level.

Despite the midwife’s warnings, he proved her wrong several years later at the age of seven, having been dubbed the smartest child for his age after completing a test meant for the annual SAT’s. 

At school, he flourished and by the time he was three, he could read at the average of a thirteen-year-old American child. Over time he developed quickly and, alongside Alexis, was placed in a school for advanced students. By then, they had been good friends. Innocence and luck was on their side.  
___________________________________________________________________________  
2 MONTHS

“Oh, she is just the sweetest little thing,” a woman with curly, ebony locks purred at the side of the incubator. The woman who had originally been looking at the child, lit up with a smile. 

“Isn’t she? I named her Alexis.”

“Oh, is she yours? My son is right next to her! His name is Nathanael.”

The blonde woman peered over the ebony’s shoulder to see a sickly child connected to tubes and needles. In comparison to Alexis, he looked much worse off. And much, much smaller. 

“Oh, dear… he does not look well.”

“No,” his mother agreed, sadly, but her face lit up. “My name is Kristin Curtis, née Scott. Yours?”

“I am Brandie Wright. It is nice to meet you, Kristin. I get the feeling we’ll be good friends.”

“Same,” Kristin said through her bleached smiled.  
____________________________________________________________________________  
12 MONTHS

“I see God has a miraculous way of bringing two people together.” 

“It would be so adorable if those two got married when they were older.”

____________________________________________________________________________  
5 YEARS OLD

“Psst… Nath…”

“Yeah…”

“What’s married?”

“It’s a … ceremony where if two people show they love each other. There are rings and dresses and stuff…”

“Let’s get married right now!”  
___________________________________________________________________________  
Social media @ 16:45  
[A photograph of two kids covered in make-up wearing fake rings and their parents’ oversized clothing next to a falling cake.]  
\- Look at these two angels! Hopefully we’ll see this sweet ceremony in reality one day. <3 @Kristin Scott

\- + Lydia Nichols, Megan Tia, Philip Bates and 8 others liked this.  
___________________________________________________________________________  
7 years old

“Ok, so I know this is a big deal and all, but Alexis, wait!”

“Mom! I want to ride the bus like all the other kids! With Nathanael. I can’t just leave him alone. Him and me are going to have so much fun! They have finger paint at art class!”

“Alexis, while I am sure that is quite the exciting adventure, but you’re not even wearing shoes!”

“Mom, shoes are for weirdoes!”

“Well, those weirdoes won’t stub their toes on the playground.”

Alexis heaved a heavy groan, but consented to her mother’s whim of wearing shoes. Within a few minutes, the blonde rushed down with her shoes buckled to her feet with the flimsy Velcro. 

Without heeding her mother’s warnings, Alexis rushed out of the house and down the street to the nearest bus stop, where several students, including Nathanael waited. The boy had his raven hair neatly trimmed in an awkward bowl cut and huge glasses pressed up the bridge of his nose. He looked like a nerd and the clothes his mother dressed him in did not help either. Who even wore sleeveless sweaters?

“Nathanael!” Alexis screeched before skidding to a stop in front of her friend. 

“Oh, hey, Alexis. What’s up?” 

“Are you excited for our first day of school?”

“Yeah, are you? You look nice,” Nathanael commented.

“Duh! I heard we get to build sandcastles all day and bake cookies and… and… we also get to finger paint! Momma never lets me, so I’m going to do it like, all the time!”

“Alexis… that was little school. We’re going to the big school now,” Nathanael said cautiously. 

“So?”

“So, we’ll be actually doing work.”

“That’s stupid. Aren’t we going to do anything fun at all?”

Nathanael thought for a second about the question, before lighting up and exclaiming, “We get to do maths this year!”  
Alexis groaned and facepalmed dramatically with a groan.  
Boys were stupid.  
___________________________________________________________________________

14 years old  
Nathanael squirmed in his seat. The English paper blurred in and out of focus in front of him. He had trouble focusing on the test, while words like ‘tunny’, ‘porpoise’ and ‘acute’ swirled across the comprehension text. Alexis, two rows down, had her head bowed while concentrating on the test, easily able to make way with the words. 

Nathanael exhaled heavily, before taking the words in again, this time able to get past the first few paragraphs when Jacques, a seat right in front of him, yawned and distracted Nathanael’s train of thought. Nathanael watched in fascination as Jacques’ muscles rippled under his V-neck t-shirt. He gulped down the saliva forming in his mouth. Salivating on his English paper was not on his bucket list. Neither was it over a sexy boy with a heartbreaker smile. 

Unfortunately for him, this was not a new occurrence, given that the crush had been burning at the back of his mind since the player recited Shakespearian sonnets at the front of the class just a few weeks prior. He had smiled at the girls in the class and Nathanael had imagined that, even for a moment, his words were meant for him. When the mere thought of even crushing on a boy came to mind, he nearly had a panic attack, but Alexis, dutiful and kind as always was there to help him through the mess. 

She convinced him that it was going to be okay, that it was all going to blow over and soon he would find a sweet girl to like, but… that was two months ago. Nathanael squirmed again and subtly folded his legs, hoping that nobody noticed his growing problem. 

An hour later and his test finally done, albeit hastily, Nathanael stood up from his seat and started packing his bags. Alexis had finished her packing at twice the pace Nathanael did and bounded over to the boy, ponytail swishing from side to side behind her head. 

“How did the test go?” she asked with a gorgeous smile, lip gloss shining in the artificial light of the classroom. She really was pretty. 

“It was okay,” he answered vaguely, “though I struggled at the parts of sentences. Again. I just can’t seem to remember the definition of a finite verb or an auxiliary verb.” 

“Well, at least the comprehension was easy. I can’t believe turtles are neglected even before they’re born. It has to be tough growing up without a parent or two. It sounds sickish.”

“It’s… not that bad, I guess…” Nathanael trailed off, suddenly in thought. While his mother was steadfast figure in his life, his father was distant and spent as little time as possible around Nathanael. At most, Nathanael would see his father for an hour during dinner throughout the week. 

“I think your outlook on life is more important than who affects said outlook,” Nathanael explained when Alexis gave him a look. This look automatically shifted to one of disbelief, until she spoke up in a deadpan voice. 

“This is why I don’t get you books for your birthday. You start sounding like Shakespeare on crack.”

“Oh, that you were yourself! But, love, you are no longer yours than you yourself here live. Against this coming end you should prepare, and your sweet semblance to some other give -,” 

“Okay, I get the idea! Shut up!” Alexis exclaimed through her giggles. “You should start acting if you’re going to remember Shakespearian sonnets for the hell of it!”

“And become a washed out, South-African-Australian musician who doesn’t know how a hairbrush works?”

“Did you just insult Troye Sivan?” Alexis asked, flabbergasted and looking thoroughly intimidating with her glare.  
Nathanael grinned cheekily before rushing out of the exam hall as soon as the bell rang. While Alexis was physically stronger than him, Nathanael had speed to his advantage and he soon found himself barrelling through the double doors of the school’s gym, breath racing and heart stuttering in his chest. Just because he was fast, did not mean he was fit. 

It was quiet.

Exhaling a large breath, Nathanael managed to calm his beating heart – be still, my sweet – and take in his surroundings. High ceilings stretched far above him and despite the darkness of the room, the windows situated just below the ceilings gave enough light and made the room appear ethereal and deserted at the same time. 

“Ah…” He exhaled. “I’m here, so I might as well.” Nathanael reasoned listlessly that considering he was there, he might as well pick up a basketball and get some practice in. 

Taking a decent one from the nets, he jogged across the court, bouncing the ball along the way. When he was in range of the hoops, he bounced the ball one last time and with a slight skip in his step, he flicked the ball up. The ball flicked over the rim of the hoop, neatly slipping past the nets. 

“Looks like my skills haven’t faded,” he mumbled. 

Nathanael grimaced though when the ball hit the floor with a resounding thunk, and bounced back in his direction, all the while repeating the sound with each bounce.  
A few shots later, Nathanael was starting to get bored. It was then when the subject of his latest wet dreams made his way into the room. 

“Jacques?”

“Hey, loser. What are you trying to do up here? The bell rang ages ago!”

“Hey yourself, loser. I’m just shooting some hoops,” Nathanael confessed. 

“Ah, I see. Show me some then,” Jacques teased, smirk gracing his lips. Nathanael squirmed under the pressure, but gathered the ball in his hands, nevertheless. One shot and he had it in the hoop. Spinning like a drunk camel, but in.

“You’re not half bad,” Jacques complimented. His smile appeared smug, all the while giving the vague impression that he was actually Zac Efron in disguise. 

(Did Zac Efron even have a cousin? Nevertheless, a doppelgänger.)

(It didn’t matter. Zac wasn’t Nathan’s type.)

(Fuck. Nath had a type.)

“So, what did you think about that book? The one-eyed king?” Jacques commented casually, all while spinning the ball on his index finger.

“I read it when I ten, so the lit test wasn’t that much of a pain,” Nathanael commented.

(Was he flirting? C’mon, Nath! It’s not that fucking hard!)

“That is cool as balls!” 

“The hairy ones or the one you’re spinning like a top on your finger?” 

Jacques chuckled at Nathanael’s bluntness, but answered with a straight face, “The ones in your pants.”

The wink he sent in Nathanael’s way was no help either. 

And that, dear reader, was how Nathanael got his first hand-job. 

(He still thinks that it’s unfair how the jock was so good at it, while he nearly bit him when trying to get Jacques off.  
Epic fail.)

__________________________________________________________________________  
16 years old

At the age of sixteen, Nathanael finally came out to his parents. Tragedy struck and his father disowned him, forcing his mother to send him to live with Alexis and her parents. To  
his surprise, Alexis’ father was far more welcoming than his own, despite being a priest at the local church. 

The worst news, though?

He had to share a room with Alexis for two weeks while the guest room was being renovated. 

Yippee!

(Not.)

So that is where the teen found himself, trying to find comfort in the large room that belonged to Alexis, despite having been there thousands of times before. Alexis’ room had transformed from the girly environment it had been when she was a little girl, to a more Boho-themed room. 

(But was the ram’s skull really necessary? It was freaking Nathanael out.)

(The eyes were following him.)

“Where’s your manga?” Nathanael queried, trying to find the strange Ecchi and Shonen she read. The only decent thing she actually had was Ao No Exorcist. (Don’t tell anyone, but he might have sneakily read the ecchi, as well.)

“In the drawer, next to my underwear drawer,” Alexis said. Nathanael made his way to the general direction of her dresser, opening the first drawer he saw, only to be assaulted by lace and frills.

“Holy fucking Christmas bells!” he exclaimed, feeling his remaining innocence evaporate before his eyes. He slammed the drawer shut, only to open it again and stare at the underwear in front of him. 

“Alexis…” he said warily, “why is there lingerie in your underwear drawer?”

“Oh, puh-lease, Nathanael, you know I wear those stuff,” Alexis confessed, not really paying attention to what her friend was doing in her underwear drawer.

“Plus, you’re gay, and a guy, so what does it matter to you?” 

Nathanael swallowed, but chose to ignore Alexis’ commented by plucking a rather revealing set, with two clasps at the back holding the leather ensemble. 

“Well, it doesn’t really bother me all that much, but I didn’t know you were into BDSM.”

“PUT THAT THE FUCK DOWN!”

Nathanael also didn’t know that Alexis knew parkour.  
______________________________________________________________________________________  
21 years old

Alexis is known for her no-nonsense attitude, but sometimes a little tact goes a long way. 

When the duo finally arrived at their new apartment, sweaty, exhausted and with desperate needs to pee, the landlady was there to greet them. She was a stocky old lady with an off-centred smile, but she looked decent either way. 

"I'm Cheryl Kauffman, nice to meet you," she greeted in mock-politeness upon the duo's entrance. Alexis was the first to shake the woman's hand, and Nathan had an inkling that the blonde was going to break the woman's wrist. Despite that, Nathan also decided to hide his amusement at the irony of the woman's surname. It was a rarity that someone had the surname of their profession, German or not. 

"You must be the new tenants; Nathan and Alexis Curtis?"

Nathan could see Alexis visibly flinch at the mistake, but luckily for him she did not comment, and the two nodded amicably. 

"I have both good news and bad news for the two of you. The bad news or thee good news first?"

"Bad news, please!" Nathan begged. What? Never heard of karma before?

"The apartment you bought is currently being disinfected as there was a rat infestation, but lucky for you we have another apartment temporarily available until there’s further  
notice about the apartment you two had bought.”

“Is there a clinch in the deal?” Alexis asked skeptically. 

Cheryl smiled innocently, though it did not seem to reach her eyes at all. “No, of course not. Why would you think that?” 

“Well, our apartment is rat-infested and you’re just giving us another apartment to stay in with to other worries or shit?” 

“Unless you have any issues we would need to deal with such as substance abuse or clinical and chronic mental illnesses, I truly doubt that we would have a problem with the room given to you at the moment.” Cheryl’s smile was slowly becoming forced as though Alexis was grinding on her nerves like a pole dancer – and not in the good way. “Although all our clientele gets cleared beforehand. All seemed clear with the resumes given to us. Though I must warn you, I’m not informed about the status of your relationship, but I doubt there should be any problems with the two of you sharing a bed.”

Nathan grimaced. While he and Alexis would occasionally share a bed as a kid, he soon realized that the constant blue tinted bruises on his legs were all Alexis’ doing. She didn’t kick in her sleep – she did a brutal form of mixed martial arts. This fact was only worsened by the fact that her main sport always had been taekwondo. 

“Also, kindly note that these walls are thin and half our tenants are elderly in the block you will temporarily be staying at. We would like you to refrain from any disturbing noises – sexually or otherwise.”

Alexis did not appear amused at the last comment and crudely replied with, “The boy likes dick. I got too much pussy for him, so you don’t have to worry about that.” 

With that, Alexis turned on her heel and strutted away with the proffered key in her hand. 

Nathan gaped at his best friend, but hastily apologized to the landlady before rushing after his friend. 

He had a feeling they were going to be kicked out before the rats were. 

Luckily for them, they key had their apartment number on it and the trek was short as the apartment was on the third floor. Nathan feared that otherwise he would have struggled.  
___________________________________________________________________________  
“Alexis, there is a teapot hanging from the chandelier,” Nathan commented as he stood below said chandelier – a tacky design with gaudy, chipped gold paint and fake crystals.  
Unfortunately for the them, the replacement apartment had several unwanted surprises and the Alice In Wonderland teapot-debacle was the least of their worries. The majority of the walls had paint peeling off of them and the olive-green bathroom was making Alexis feel nauseas and Nathan had a terrible feeling about cooking anything in the oven. 

It was then when the blonde retreated from the bathroom, hair more dishevelled than when she entered. Her attempt to fix her braid had failed terribly and the strands of hair was falling in every which way. 

“That has got to be the ugliest thing I’ve ever seen in my entire life. And I’ve seen you first thing in the morning, mind you,” Alexis grumbled. 

“I’m not that bad,” Nathan moaned. “Oh, and we have to make a trip to the grocery store, remember? I need some stuff for dinner tonight.”

One look at the kitchen from both of them, had concern fluttering in their chests. “Nath,” Alexis said, trying to sound kind, “That kitchen is a dump. And not to mention, you don’t even have the correct things to even make macaroni. Let us not. We can go shopping tomorrow.”

“So, Indian food or pizza?”

“Pizza. Otherwise the toilet’s going to get clogged before tomorrow!”

Nathanael rolled his eyes, but made a move to grab his phone and place an order at the nearest delivery place. It was only after searching all of his pockets (especially his back pockets) that he realised his phone was still in the car, all the way in the back-parking lot. With a pained moaned, he grabbed the car keys and left the apartment while still leaving the door unlocked. He jogged down the stairs, ignoring the subtle squeaks every step he took. 

The shortest route to the back of the building was a tight squeeze, passages narrower than the width of his arms. Luckily for him, the route was short and getting to the car was a  
minimal hassle in reality. Climbing in through the passenger’s seat because the drivers was blocked (some people just don’t know how to parallel park) he rifled through the little nooks and crannies in the front of the car. He wasn’t paying all that much attention when another car parked next his only available exit. When he finally found his phone, he came to the realisation that… well… he was stuck. Someone had parked in the side next to him, closing all options of getting out and he was not skinny enough to squeeze out of the window. 

The boot!

Clambering to the back, phone in hand, Nathanael squirmed and wiggled out, over the backseats and into the boot, when the inner hood fell on top of him. He was engulfed in darkness and while trying to push up against the inner hood, he found that he was stuck. Completely stuck and utterly screwed. While trying to find a comfortable position,  
Nathanael only managed to knock his head twice and nearly lose his phone in the scuffle. Thinking quickly, Nathanael managed to make a call to Alexis, asking her to come down and get him out of there with the spare key.

“The light!” Nathanael exclaimed when Alexis opened the storage unit. “It burns! But yet, it is so beautiful!”

“Get out, you twat.”

“Did I die and go to heaven?”

“No,” Alexis hissed, “but you did not even realise that firstly, I could have called for pizza and secondly, why didn’t you just reverse the car and the get out? You could have parked it somewhere differently.”

Nathanael stared blankly at his friend. “You, Alexis, are a beautiful, amazing, stunning, glorious woman who I do not have the privilege to be friends with.”

“Yeah, yeah. If that is the way you’re going to be sucking up to me the next few days, I’m kicking you out of this state!” 

“You love me!”

“I kind of have to.”


	2. Chapter 1: "Pizza or Indian food?"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Their first few days as roommates...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, guys, this is the second chapter at your feet! It is much shorter than intended, but I was having a bit of trouble with this chapter! I hope you like it! It's more of a filler, but we meet a lot of new characters important to the plot! 

"Alexis, I don't think you understand my extreme, dire need for this," Nathanael moaned at his best friend.

"Nath, we both know you're not going to use it," the blonde retorted with blunt honesty, knowing her male counterpart all too well.

"It's two dollars, Alexis! And getting this is imperative! I'm going to die without it!"

"Nathanael, please, have some common sense!"

"You're not my mother!"

"I should probably take up the job. I hear the pay in arrogance from a needy twat is good."

"I'm not a twat!"

"Oh, so you confess to being needy?"

"Yes!" Nathanael exclaimed, at the verge of crying from frustration. Alexis was sure there were tears pooling at the corner of his eyes. She folded her arms, listening to his extravagant claims. "This pencil is the thing I need to make history!"

"Dammit, Nathanael, a pencil can't change a person's life!"

"But this one can!" Nathanael twirled only to end in a ballerina pose with his one leg hovering behind him and the pencil extended in his one hand.   
"Look, it has the screen touchy thingy I always use! Now my tablet won't get annoyingly dirty all the time."

Alexis sighed in exasperation. Nathanael may have been an acclaimed genius, but she was concerned that he had a belated childhood and that his antics were kicking in now. She was too young to be a mother, but this was apparently her new future. 

"Alright, but you're transgressing into the ultimate gaylord," Alexis mocked, rolling her eyes as she spun in the opposite direction of the stationery store to get her personal necessities. 

She supposed she could pay a dollar for a measly pencil, even if she was unsure if the man was actually going to use it. Knowing Nathanael, he was probably going to add it to his chewed pencil collection in his nightly escapades of mathematical exploration. 

It appeared to her that 50% of the time he was the ultimate rainbow of happiness and had very little that bothered him, but the other 50% of the time he was a real-life Sheldon Cooper with glasses and, well, sex appeal. 

She loved him like a brother, but sometimes she was concerned for his own well-being where sleepless nights and algebra were concerned. Ever since he moved in with her, Alexis learned that Nathanael was in constant need of being checked on. 

If he had a choice, he would run without sleep or food, sometimes even avoiding bathroom breaks (that was possibly the nastiest summer vacation ever) in an attempt to achieve another mathematical breakthrough. 

Sometimes he just wanted to prove some scientist wrong for his own mental challenge, or for the heck of finding more out about said scientist's achievements. He spent a good ten and a half months testing and researching Nikola Tesla's inventions, only to look like a deranged Elvis Presley by the time he was done and had escaped his room, claiming his research to be inconclusive.

It was to her hope, that within the next few years that they would be living together, that Nathanael would not fall into another relapse. Ever since he lost one of the supposed steadfast figures in his life for being homosexual, Nathanael had become... psycho at times... to put it mildly at least. He had his days where he was Nathanael Curtis the scientist, and other days where he was Nathanael Curtis, the mentally exhausted and physically challenged young man with a little bit of a torn map to guide him. 

It was then that Alexis looked up, her tumultuous thoughts ceasing as she sees her friend conversing with one of the store clerks. They were shoulder to shoulder, looking intently at a set of notebooks, as if Nathanael was trying to figure out which one held the secrets of the Earth. The store clerk was a young man with curly blonde hair. He was far shorter than Nathanael, and obviously a lot younger, something in his late teens whereas Nathanael was at least a head taller than the boy and she knew for a fact that Nathanael was beyond the drinking age. 

Nathanael seemed to find what he was looking for and lifted a two-hundred and seventy page, leather-bound book with simplistic engravings at the edges. 

"Thanks for the help, Etienne," Nathanael said, flashing the boy a dashing smile, with dimples that Alexis knew Nathanael hated, showing. 

"My pleasure, just call me up if you need help with anything else and I'll be down to assist you," Etienne smiled mischievously at the older guy and flitted past Nathanael - head down to hide his blush, but Alexis saw it clearly. Oh, this is going to be brilliant, she thought - extremely amused.

"You wrecked that poor boy," Alexis teased, effectively scaring Nathanael by speaking out of the blue. Nathanael smiled sheepishly, attempting to avoid Alexis' gaze. 

"He's... he's way too young for me. He's only seventeen," Nathanael spoke. Alexis' smile vanished, her cerulean eyes narrowing as she stared at Nathanael. 

"That never stopped you before," Alexis pointed out, referring to Nathanael's last boyfriend; who was fourteen when he was seventeen. 

"That didn't technically matter. We were both below the age of consent, but I'm an adult now," Nathanael defended.

"'I'm an adult now,'" Alexis mocked in a deep voice. "Never mind the eye-candy, are you done here? Can we go home so I can watch Supernatural?" 

Nathanael seemed to focus at that again. "Oh, no, not yet. I still need a few more gel tip pens. I can't work with the others – they drive me nuts! Oh, and also a file."

"If I miss out on seeing Dean's perfectly sculpted face because of you... you'll be dead to me."

Nathanael rolled his eyes, made his way over to the pens, grabbed a few and sidestepped a grumbling Alexis to get the folders he had missed right behind her. 

"Are you done?" Nathanael asked her after she concluded her rant about how Sam and Dean Winchester were "absolutely perfect".

"Yes, I'm done," Alexis answered, rolling her eyes. "Are we getting lunch afterwards or did you want to make something at the apartment so I can watch my show in peace?"

"Nah, I don't like the knives we brought over. I'm going to complain to Mom about never sharpening those things! She never listens to me!"

"Nobody wants to listen to a kid. She is too proud for that," Alexis told him. "You know how long she spent making those tiny cakes for Christmas. Though, the bacon bits probably weren't the best idea. Coco still gets those weird vomiting episodes."

Coco was their Jack Russel, who was more brown than white. He was blind in the one eye and had a droopy ear which he never grew out of since he was a puppy. Surprisingly, Alexis thought, Coco is the best cuddle buddy ever.

The pair made their way to the counter to pay. Nathanael eventually ended up paying more than half, given that Alexis' credit card blanked out. "Don't look so fucking pleased with yourself," Alexis huffed. 

"I'm just happy that I'm getting that pencil," Nathanael confessed, smirking at his friend, "and you can't say anything about it."

"I never thought I would ever say this to you in my entire life, but fuck you."

"You wish."

"Implied, you fucker," Alexis huffed, rolling her eyes. There was an amiable silence between the two for a moment, only broken by the sound of Alexis' heels hitting the floor. 

Nathanael tutted and chirped. "You know, with an attitude like that you're probably not going to get a job. You have a sailor's mouth."

"And you develop Avant Syndrome on your worst of days – I suppose we both have our flaws," Alexis huffed, moving faster in order to intentionally get away from Nathanael. Nathanael did not reply; instead he took his phone out, turned it on and flicked over to his calendar app. 

There, approximately a week away was a red dot, automatically turning up once a month. "That explains it..." he murmured to himself, before lifting his head and speaking to Alexis. "Your period is in a week, yes? Do you need anything?"

Alexis came to a standstill on the cobblestone path outside the selection of stores. She turned her body to the general direction of Nathanael, who was innocently surveying the blonde.   
He still had his phone out, so he pocketed it while waiting for Alexis to speak. 

"How... you better have a good reason for knowing this!" Alexis snapped. Nathanael came to halt next to her as the two continued their trek through New York. 

"Well, ever since you had your first bloodflow at the age of thirteen, I subtly started to insert it into the calendar in order to predict your cycle. Now, don't think I'm crazy, because I did it in order to keep you happy. Add into the fact that I was more doing it because I didn't want to have my butt kicked because you thought I should also lay in a puddle of my blood. Ever wondered how I knew when to get you chocolates as gifts during Christmas or when it was your birthday? Well, I knew that was when you were bleeding. I was also the one to start slipping condoms in your purse when I realised you were going out on dates while most fertile."

Alexis seemed to think it through, tilting her head. "That... explains a lot. You saved my bleeding vagina quite a few times," Alexis told him, smiling at her friend. "I wish you could save me from period sneezes, though."

"Oh, gosh, Alexis that is too much information!"

Alexis blinked up at her friend, confused for a moment until her eyes lit up in realisation. "Gross, you homosexual, pervy fuck. I didn't mean it like that! I would never do that!"

"Yeah, well, I have, and it isn't pleasant at all," Nathanael hissed.

Alexis laughed merrily and Nathanael couldn't help but join. "You're the best friend any girl can ever ask for," Alexis murmured, staring up at her friend. Nathanael stared back, grinning. 

"You're like the sister I never wanted, but I would not trade you in for the world," Nathanael confessed, "now, let's go get some avocados. I know you get a craving for them right about this time."

Alexis giggled and made her way to the nearest café.

***

The duo found themselves at a quaint, but tightly packed restaurant a few minutes later in a tiny booth near the back. 

"I think I'm going to get the char-grilled avocado on the rye bread and salmon. Ooh, it has cream cheese and oregano on it too!" Alexis exclaimed, while a waitress scribbled on her tiny notebook. 

"And you, sir?" she asked Nathanael. 

"The mozzarella cheese burger with the calamari sides," Nathanael said, not looking up all the while. "Oh, and would you mind bringing me another milkshake? Chocolate, this time."

The waitress nodded and took the menus and Nathanael's used glass.  
Nathanael was still staring down at the table, but this time more obviously at the phone in his lap. "This may be just me, but is there someone staring at us?"

Alexis casually glanced around, scouting the area. She found nobody looking in their direction, despite the odd looks once or twice from the kids a few tables down, but they could have been looking at anyone. 

"Nah, no secret agents are out to get you yet," Alexis confirmed as she swirled the lemon wedge in her iced tea. "Is this that same thing you had going on when you were sixteen or is this some other nonsense?"

Nathanael sighed in relief and looked up at his friend. "Look, that theory I had about our government's politicians didn't ride on metaphorical and theoretical nonsense – I had solid evidence!"

"Finding a creepy skeleton – of a monkey, may I add – just a block from the White House is no reason for conspiracy theories."

Nathanael rolled his eyes, but did not humour his friend with a reply. It was then that moments later, their food came by. Nathanael started eating immediately, but Alexis had to Instagram her lunch. A girl's got to do what a girl's got to do.

Nathanael rolled his eyes at her, but continued to eat. He ignored the new milkshake being placed in front of him in favour of indulging even further in his meal. The calamari were crisp and warm, all while still maintaining a very fresh taste. He assumed the butter or oil had been mixed with spices of all sorts. The burger was decadent and the mozzarella melted on his tongue. That has got to be his new favourite burger of all time. 

"Alexis, we're coming back here again – no arguments," Nathanael demanded. 

"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say," Alexis chimed. She picked at her avocadoes, but opted for the cream cheese. She glanced up, suddenly nervous. Her eyes were flicking from side to side. "Nath... are you ready for classes tomorrow?"

"Yes, of course," Nathanael answered without missing a beat, "why? Aren't you ready?"

"I'm... admittedly a little nervous. Julliard is such a prestigious university... I'm scared I won't live up to what I put up there for myself."

"Well, you did always have crazy ambitions..." Nathanael admitted, thoughtfully. 

"Do you think I'll be able to do it? I mean, this is the first time in my entire life where I won't be going to the same educational institution as you. I know my fears are childish, but I can't seem to shake the feeling that something bad is going to happen," Alexis confessed, abandoning her food in the meantime. 

"Fear is natural when exposed to change, and I know you will succeed in whatever you desire. No ordinary child can compose something within their first year of taking music," Nathanael teased, but there was no pessimism in his statement.

"Yeah, but what about you? You may have changed drastically, and your social skills are now socially acceptable, but you know how your anxiety can get around new people," Alexis pushed. 

"Alexis, I've been working on it. I gave classes for an entire year; this should be no real issue. It's gotten better. Hey, I'll try to make a friend on my first day of class. It shouldn't be so hard."

Alexis hoped he was right. For his own sake.

***  
Nathanael stood corrected. Not only was the system completely different to what he was used to, despite having given classes before. The lectures were far trickier than Nathanael anticipated and the lecturer was all over the place. 

Nathanael had to rewrite the same keywords at least five times until he got the gist of what was happening. A bunch of students at the back weren't paying attention and were therefore distracting Nathanael by default. 

The lecture was nearing the fifty-five minute mark, when Nathanael finally lost his temper. He spun in his chair, and snapped in the general direction of the students. 

"Shut up, you idiots," he hissed, slightly louder than intended. 

The lecturer fell silent, staring at Nathanael with heavy eyes and weariness. "Mister Curtis, if you have a problem, please keep it to yourself. You're no longer in high school."

Nathanael sighed, but returned to his study notes nonetheless. This was going to be a long day, but at least those guys at the back shut up.

***

Alexis, on the other hand, was having a lot of fun, expressing and fine-tuning her skills on the cello. She fiddled a bit with the strings when two girls came up to her, both exceptionally beautiful. The first girl she noticed had lovely brown skin that looked really smooth and the nicest smile Alexis had seen in a long time. The second female had an ethereal feeling that hung around her beauty, unlike the other girl who appeared down to earth and sweet. This girl had long silky black hair and sharp features. 

"Hey, you're new here, too, right?" the curly brunette asked. 

"Uh, yeah," Alexis confirmed, setting down her bowdown for the time being. "How can I help you?"

"Oh, nothing like that," the black-haired girl assured quickly. Alexis quickly picked up traces of a heavy Russian accent. "We just wanted to hear if you'd like to join us after class? We're kind of friends already and you looked lonely, so..."

"I would like to," Alexis confirmed, smiling at the two girls. "I'm Alexis Wright. I just moved here with my brother a few weeks ago. It's nice to meet you."

"I'm Julija, but my friends just call me Jewel. You can call me that too, if it's easier for you," the black-haired girl replied. 

"The name's Amanda Ren," the dark-skinned girl spoke up. "It's so nice to meet you."

"So," Julija continued conversationally, taking a seat next to her. Amanda went to sit next to her. "How long have you been playing the cello?"

"Um... since I was about six, I think. I can also play the piano, but I prefer the cello," Alexis explained. "You two?"

"I play the violin, keyboard and the guitar. It's all I've known my entire life," Julija told her indifferently. Her arms were folded and legs crossed.   
She had an unwelcome demeanour around her. 

"Well," Amanda continued where Julija left off, "I can sing, play the clarinet, piano, drums, trumpet, flute and the triangle."

"That... is quite the list," Alexis breathed, exhaling on a breath she hadn't realised she was holding. 

There was a slam of the conductor's stick against the desk up front. Several students scattered to get to their instruments and take their positions. As Julija and Amanda casually remained where they were, Alexis couldn't help but admire their relaxed attitudes and appreciated their company. She just hoped that Nathanael wasn't having a hard time. 

***

When Alexis returned to the new apartment, (finally free of rats and redecorated rather cutely) she found Nathanael passed out on the couch. He had a physics textbook open next to him on the couch, one of the pages stuck to his chin. 

His tangled limbs could not have been situated comfortably and she knew those throw pillows were going to give him neck problems. Alexis tried shaking his shoulder lightly in order for Nathanael to wake up when he groaned in protest and mumbled out sleepily.   
"No, Napoleon and Spock aren't the same people, Jimmy... have you even seen Star Trek?"

Sensing an opportunity, Alexis whispered, "Star Wars is better." The usually incomprehensible mutters coming from Nathanael were rather clear this time around, so Alexis assumed Nathanael had slipped into REM and was now lucid-dreaming. There was no way she was going to get to wake him up. 

Instead, she wandered to the kitchen in search of some dinner. The coffee she had with her new friends hadn't been enough to keep away the hunger. To her fortune, Nathanael had already made dinner. Despite it being a quick mac-and-cheese, it was homemade and delicious.

In fact, the only time Alexis has ever seen Nathanael make comfort food such as this, was when he had a bad day. Alexis sighed and squirted another dollop of sweet chilli sauce on her bowl of cheesy goodness. 

As harsh as it seemed, Nathanael would have to deal with his own nonsense.


	3. Chapter 2: "You don't own me, asshole!"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shit strikes the fan.

 

_**3 weeks later** _

* * *

 

  
Alexis was a social butterfly. She loved meeting new people, and she discovered that she could easily forge friendships. Perhaps it was because of her slightly eccentric yet quirky personality, maybe her looks had something to do with it. But whatever it was, she never wanted to lose it.

But, making friends had consequences. Getting to know Julija Kublanova and Amanda Ren reminded her of that rule. Both of the mentioned girls were ruthless party animals, and they conquered every bar or nightclub they came across. Alexis thought they were nice and decent enough, but what really drew her towards them was the fact that she recognized them from some of her classes.

Unfortunately for her, they had a tendency to dance and drink their hearts out. Alexis soon realised how true that assumption was when she woke up the one morning with a pounding headache and vomit rising up her throat. Her feet were practically throbbing, and her ankles felt stiff and sore.

  
She had a hangover. The price she had to pay was for her newfound friendship was a brutal, merciless hangover.

The first week of college had gone rather successfully in Alexis' opinion. She had been thoroughly busy nonetheless, and Nathanael had locked himself inside his room in an attempt to get ahead of the syllabus' work. Therefore, Alexis hadn't seen her best friend in a week, despite the fact that she came back home every evening with dinner set out on their tiny kitchen table. The previous evening, a crisp Friday night, had been worth the hassle the week brought forth and Alexis, Julija and Amanda meandered forth into the city of skyscrapers.

The distance between Alexis and Nathanael wasn't abnormal, per se, but she did notice his absence. The longest they had spent time apart was that year Nathanael was working at Harvard and Alexis had barely noticed, what with her final year being a lot more stressful than she had supposed and the fact that they constantly contacted each other.

Although, a week had been the longest Alexis had not seen her best friend since they had lived together. Usually when he had these lockdown moments, he would cycle through the kitchen and the bathroom to ensure his basic necessities, but what with Alexis hardly leaving campus grounds, she did not get the chance to see him.

The blonde heaved when bile crawled up her throat again and she pushed her body up from its weakened position on the ground in order to push her head down the toilet bowl. The vomit made its way down the bowl and the foul, sharp smell of it was sent into the air, wafting up to Alexis' eyes, making them water. She grimaced and pushed the seat down, flushing it without hesitating. If she knew her body well enough, then that was the last bit of her nausea's evidence.

Her headache was receding, and the worst of the hangover was fading away - painfully slow, but still. It was one of the positive aspects of being rather fit as it took ages for her to get drunk, and half the time to rid herself of a hangover.

She teetered to the kitchen, blinking owlishly at the light streaming through the open, dreadfully plain living room's floor-to-ceiling windows. With a groan, Alexis closed the curtains. She groaned even louder when she realised the sheer material was basically useless at blocking out light.

Fifteen minutes later, Alexis had seated herself on the kitchen's island with a cup of Japanese herbal tea cradled in her hands. It was already ten o'clock, and she had still not gotten a glimpse of Nathanael.

 _By now he should have at least exited in order to get some breakfast or go to the bathroom,_ she thought while taking a small sip of her tea. It was then, when Alexis' paranoid streak started getting the best of her, when Nathanael emerged from his room, hair mussed and clothed in nothing but boxers and a T-shirt.

"Morning, Alexis," Nathanael greeted her, meandering past her in order to get to the apartment's sole teapot - a bright blue object with a beige handle.

"Hello, Nath. I haven't seen you in a week," Alexis chirped, trying to sound cheerful, but failing miserably. The throbbing headache somehow influenced the tone of her voice, making her sound quite rude.

Nathanael hummed noncommittedly and continued his lazy tasks around the kitchen. Alexis watched half-heartedly as Nathanael petered around the kitchen, gathering up two mugs. He dropped one spoonful of sugar in the one and two into the other with some instant coffee granules. He poured the remaining tea into the first cup and boiling water into the second.

Initially Alexis thought that he was making the coffee for her, but when he made his way out of the kitchen and back to his bedroom, Alexis became even more confused than she already was. However, a small part of her felt rather intrigued at her friend's strange behaviour.

***

  
"Hey, sleeping beauty," Nathanael whispered when he crawled back into bed, handing the coffee over to the dreary looking man resting to his right. The male shifted and sat up in order to retrieve the coffee, smiling up at Nathanael. His dyed blue hair stuck out in every possible direction and his eyes were ridden with fatigue.

"Thanks," he murmured. Despite the initial intimacy of the previous night, there was a slight awkwardness hanging in the air between the two. Nathanael's blue-haired partner was hardly looking him in the eye, rather focusing on his coffee.

"Um..." Nathanael started, unsure of where to begin, "about last night..."

"Look, Nathanael," Hatori (Nathanael _thought_ that was his name) began before Nathanael could finish his sentence, "I'm sorry for leading you on and letting last night happen. It wasn't fair to you, I mean, I already have a girlfriend and after last night... the sex was great, but there was no spark."

Nathanael frowned slightly, a slight crease folding between his brows. "Y'know, Hatori, I don't blame you. I just wish we could have met on different terms. Friends?" The words sounded stupid and cliché out loud, but he was as sincere as can be.

He held his left hand out for Hatori to shake, and he nearly exhaled in relief when the small Korean took his hand and smiled up at him.

"If Lydia gives you trouble about this, call me up and I'll explain it all to her," Nathanael said, trying to abate Hatori's worry. He dropped his hand in his lap and placed the mug he was holding onto the table next to him.

Hatori smiled grimly, but nodded. "I don't think you have to worry. We're in an open relationship, so if I just talk to her, and maybe introduce you, it shouldn't be a problem."

"That's great." Nathanael was relieved. At least Lydia wouldn't want to have his head on a stake and Hatori was in the safe zone.

That was when a shrill sound eruptsd from somewhere in the mess of covers and both men jumped in surprise. Hatori dove beneath the sheets in such a hurry that Nathanael had to dive to catch the nearly empty mug of coffee.

Hatori squirmed beneath the sheets in an attempt to find his phone and silence it. Eventually he found it and sat up straight, phone pressed against his cheek. He had the sheets covering him and it was concealing his body, giving off the appearance of a cheap Halloween costume.

"Hullo? Lydia?"

Nathanael blinked in surprise. This could not be good.

"Yeah... I... I went bar-crawling last night," Hatori admitted, obviously in discomfort at the confession. Nathanael could hear her high-pitched voice echoing through the tiny speakers. "Yeah, I'm safe, I swear... no, I just... yeah... I'm sorry. I'll be home in thirty minutes."

Hatori turned his phone off and promptly crawled out of the sheets.

"I can drive you back home," Nathanael offered, but Hatori blatantly refused.

"I can take the subway. Can I use your shower, though?"

Nathanael nodded, but made his way out of the bed in order to get dressed. He gathered up his clothes to throw them in the hamper and besides his text books and notes scattered all across the room, everything seemed to be in a decent order.

Hatori tiptoed past the younger male and into the en-suite bathroom.

It was an unspoken agreement that Alexis and Nathanael were allowed to cycle through the bathroom with no qualms. It's a shame their guest didn't know this.

And neither did Alexis.

The only indication Nathanael had about what was going on in the bathroom was the noises and sounds emanating from within.

_A zipper sliding down._

_Clothes dropping._

_Water dripping onto tiles._

_A girly screech._

Nathanael's eyes widened, and he nearly spilled his cup of coffee when he heard Hatori exclaim, "WHO THE HELL ARE YOU!"

 

An oh-so-familiar voice answered. "I SHOULD BE ASKING YOU THAT!" Alexis shouted hysterically.

  
The screeching was going to drive Nathanael nuts, so he made his way into the bathroom, only to be greeted by the most ridiculous sights ever.

Alexis was in a comedic jujitsu fighting stance with her one leg raised in a chin-aimed kick and her tooth brush dangling from her lips, whereas Hatori had wrapped the shower curtain around his waist, making it appear like a cheap runway dress.

Le sigh.

"I suppose this is the last time either of us brings a guy home, right, Alexis?" Nathanael asked, slightly huffing.

"You brought this guy home with you?" (To Nathanael it sounded more like: "Shoo bwrought this guy howm wit shu?") Alexis asked, narrowing her eyes suspiciously at the naked guy in the shower with the ominous blue hair. Nathanael found himself thinking, _Honestly, what the fuck was up with that shade? It looked like unicorn urine._

"Yes, now leave before I force you to stay single for the rest of your life!"

Alexis rolled her eyes at Nathanael's bluff - or, at least, that was what she thought it was - before skulking out of the bathroom. "Getting kicked out of my own fucking bathroom when a total fucking stranger is taking a fucking shower. How fucking fantastic," the blonde swore loudly. Nathanael followed her, but not before he whispered an apology in Hatori's direction.

"Nathanael, explain to me why the unicorn head is in _our_ bathroom, before I kick his ass out," Alexis mumbled, seemingly foaming at the mouth. Her toothbrush was clenched between her teeth.

"Unicorn head?"

"Have you seen his hair? Nevermind that, explain yourself."

Nathanael sighed, but continued nonetheless. "I sort of slept with him last night, but... it didn't go so well. At least we're friends now, so that's a plus!" Nathanael shrugged, smiling playfully.

Alexis had been making her way to the kitchen where she rinsed her mouth and toothbrush before speaking.

"I can't believe you did that, though. Was he worth the fuck?"

"I guess," Nathanael answered noncommittally. "I've had better, but he's not that bad."

"Really? Is that all you have to say? I was convinced you were having one of your breakthrough weeks, what with me not seeing you these days."

"I have night classes, A. By the time you're here at six, I'm already back at campus. Add to the fact that this course is a pain in the ass. I feel like everything is being repeated, but I still need to stay up to date because my memory is shit. I never have time to be outside my room, unless I'm cooking... so of course we haven't seen each other..."

Alexis frowned at his tone. There was a bit of anger laced with his supposed calm demeanor but Alexis wasn't fooled one bit. He may have been trying to hide it, but even so, the tension in the room was palpable.

"Look, I think we need to talk," Alexis spoke up.

To her misfortune, "talking" was going to have to come later, because Hatori poked his head out of Nathanael's room, waiting there awkwardly.

"Hey, um, thanks for the hospitality and all that, but I promised Lydia a breakfast date and I kinda need to scram," he explained, eyeing Alexis as if he expected her to pounce on him. Nathanael glanced at his best friend. According to the glare she was giving the strange man, there was a very good chance.

"Oh, no problem. Let yourself out, the door should be open," Nathanael answered smoothly and Hatori let himself out after trying, in painful ways, to open the lock.

There was a deafening silence that followed, uncomfortable and very, _very_ tense.

"What the hell, Nathanael? I thought you'd have told me if you were with a guy... I thought you trusted me," Alexis suddenly snapped, gripping her toothbrush tightly; knuckles white.

"Well, maybe I would have if my sister had been there for me and not partying with people she barely knew. You ditched me on movie night without even telling me where you went," Nathanael hissed, a sudden anger surging through his veins. "What kind of a fucking bitch does that?"

Alexis was left stunned and slack-jawed at Nathanael's choice of profane words. He never called anyone a "bitch". Ever. For some reason unknown reason, the word stung her harder than it should have. She desperately wanted to reply, but her brain was scrambling to conjure an appropriate response. Instead, she uttered a monotone, "The hell?"

"What?" Nathanael barked, becoming angrier and angrier by the minute. He was afraid he might explode with insurmountable fury if Alexis spoke again. "Is that all you have to say? Are you serious right now?"

 

"I... I just... you've never called _anyone_ a bitch. It hurts, Nathanael. It might sound petty and stupid, but it does," Alexis managed to whisper, her words almost inaudible.

 

"Now you know how I felt when you were gone without a trace, partying with people you barely even know."

 

Alexis regained her composure, and leaned against the kitchen counter for support. She feared she might collapse; her entire body was shaking wih rage. How dare Nathanael insult her and blame her for being a normal colmege student?

 

"Oh, so now I'm not allowed to live my life and make new friends? Do you expect me to only socialize with you, huh, mama's boy? You know, I-I can't even _look_ at you right now, I'm so mad. You don't own me, asshole, okay? I can do whatever the fuck I want!" Alexis became aware that she was no longer whispering, instead she was shouting at the top of her lungs. 

 

"You're being the asshole, Alexis. I'm trying to help you and do what's best-"

 

"Bullshit. I call bullshit on that shitty, cliché sentence."

 

"I'm done talking to you," Nathanael spat, grabbing a fresh hoodie and sweatpants from the dryer. He grabbed his car keys, and his trainers, and stormed out the apartment. The front door nearly flew off its hinges when he slammed it shut, leaving a speechless, seething Alexis behind.

 

 


	4. Chapter 3: "Female version of Donald Trump..."

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They need some help before they reconcile...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This has to be my favourite chapter so far! I love the ending scene as it is not only essential to the plot, but super sweet! 

 

 

[ **merryperrie** ](https://www.wattpad.com/user/merryperrie) **dedicated to you for being my lovely editor ♥**

***

  
Alexis had tucked herself into the couch of the quaint little coffee shop where Amanda and Julija had invited her over for brunch. The fight she had with Nathanael earlier that morning was running across her thoughts in an endless loop while she tried to make sense of the situation. Nathanael never got that angry; his anxiety never acted up in such a negative way and neither was he the type of guy to resort to sex in his lonely times.

Alexis had noticed her mistake, nonetheless. She could have tried to spend more time with her brother, given that she had missed an entire year of his life, but on the other hand, she should have had the freedom she needed without Nathanael acting like an overbearing father.

Alexis looked up from the latté she was sipping to see Amanda and Julija making their way over to her. Julija plopped down right next to her on the couch and swung her arm above the armrest, while it precariously hovered above her shoulder, threatening to land in a non-platonic manner.

Amanda, on the other hand, sat more daintily, but was the first to mention Alexis' horrible make-up. "You look terrible, girl, what happened?"

Alexis sighed, lowered her feet onto the ground and spoke up, her voice barely above a whisper. "My brother and I had this huge fight. He stormed out in anger and, I kid you not, it was fucking terrifying."

"Okay, um, I'm going to get coffee for Mandy and me, while you two just chill. Get your story straight, girl, we'll talk it out soon enough," Julija said and made her way to the ordering counter. It was probably a good thing that Julija was so adept at reading the mood.

Alexis sighed and tucked her knees up again. She was too stressed to be concerned over social appearances.

"Hey, Alexis, if you want I can ask Julija to ditch this place and take the coffee to go. We can go to my flat. I think you need to cry," Amanda told her. Alexis' eyebrows threatened to merge into her hairline as she took in Amanda's words. How was she able to read her so well? Was she that transparent?

"I would like that," Alexis told her. She finished off her latte while Amanda made her way to Julija to edit their order. Within minutes, the barista had handed the coffee over to the two girls and the three of them made their way to Amanda's flat. Said place wasn't as far as expected, only a block and a half away.

The walk there cleared Alexis' mind a bit, though she wished that she could just skip the walk to Amanda's flat and just talk it all out. Plus, her legs were tired from the previous evening and her headache was slowly returning.

Luckily for her, they got there quickly and Alexis and Julija immediately sank into the pillows on the living room's couches. Amanda made her way to the open-design kitchen only a few meters away so they could talk casually.

"So," Julija started, "tell us about this fight you had and why it made you look like the female version of Donald Trump."

Alexis would have choked at the statement, had she had anything in her mouth. Luckily, she was saved from the near-death experience, but after being compared to Donald Trump, she supposed death wasn't such an unwelcome thought.

"Okay, wow, that's rather rude, I guess, but... yeah, let me just get to the point. My brother, Nathanael, had this guy over last night and I walked in on the poor sod this morning. Long story short, he got angry, I guess, at the way I treated the guy and he called me out on not only that, but also the fact that I 'ditched' him last night."

"That doesn't sound too serious," Amanda chirped, leaning on the island in the kitchen. "I mean, why would he get angry over something like that? Not that I'm condoning your behaviour, but from what I can tell, his reaction was irrational."

"What hurts, though, is that he called me a bitch and that stung like... well... a bitch. And the thing is that he would never call someone that. He's just never done it before," Alexis confessed.

"Well, talk to him when he's cooled down, but right now I think he just needs some air to breathe," Julija said. "Plus, I know how brothers can be. I have one of my own. Twin brother, actually."

"Oh, what's his name?"

"Andrey, though I suppose he's nothing like Nathanael," Julija said.

"Well, nobody is like Nathanael. He makes stupid mistakes but his IQ is above average. Sometimes I swear they mixed up our results," Alexis told her, all the while rolling her eyes.

That was when Amanda joined them on the couch in the living room and spoke up. "Why are you so rude to your brother? I thought you said you were like best friends."

"We are best friends... he's not really my brother, I guess we just pretended because we were born on the same day and our mothers were friends, so..."

"You must have a close bond, although you don't speak very highly of him," Julija spoke, and Alexis noted how her vowels were being elongated and sounded heavier on the tongue. She sounded tired.

"I... well, I don't know. He's a pain in the ass, but..."

Amanda smiled at her. "Maybe the fault lies in you. Has he said anything about you before that sounded negative in literally anyway?"

"Well, he does complain a lot about never seeing me and not being able to spend time with me. He also hates cleaning, but I never get around to doing it, so..."

"There's your answer!" Amanda exclaimed, waving her arms dramatically. "Be the typical housewife and clean for once in your life!"

"I clean!"

"Have you seen yourself?" Julija snapped disbelievingly.

Alexis frowned down at her hoodie with the mustard and toothpaste stains on it... maybe her friends were right.

"I thought you were supposed to be on my side," Alexis stated while pouting immaturely.

"Look, Alex, I'm all for the anti-housewife cliché movement, but that doesn't mean the guys have to suffer with our whinging and shit all the time. I'll admit, we do have it hard, but why make it harder for them than necessary? I mean, what I'm trying to say is, you two are not just siblings. You're friends and flatmates who need to support each other," Amanda finished with a flourish. She was giving Alexis a pointed stare and suddenly Alexis felt the guilt settle into her gut.

"Thank you, sister Amanda," Alexis told her, albeit jokingly.

"Place all your troubles in the Heavenly Father," Amanda replied without missing a beat. When she realised what she said, her cheeks tinged pink and she squeaked slightly. "Oh, my goodness, I'm so sorry! I went to a Catholic school! I don't mean... I don't even know if you're religious or anything! I hope I didn't offend you!"

Julija seemed impressed, all the while suppressing giggles. "You are just too adorable!"

"Oh, you didn't offend me," Alexis told her. "Sure, I'm not religious, but don't let me stop you from doing what you think is right."

"And you, Julija?" Amanda spoke up worriedly.

"I belong to the Russian Orthodox church. You shouldn't worry about me. You do you."

Amanda laughed nervously. "So, Alexis, let's get our plans in order."

"If you're proposing something illegal, I'm in."

* * *

  
Nathanael was fuming with such anger; he feared he might burn up and erupt into ashes. He hated fighting with Alexis and this argument had made the adrenaline pump through his system. At the back of his mind, he realised that he made the right decision by leaving the room when he had. He was afraid that if he got angrier, he might have said some things he wouldn't be able to take back. 

  
This was the first time since he was fifteen that he gotten this angry. Usually he was composed and had no issue with controlling his emotions, but... after all that?

After the rejection from Hatori, the failed night of intimacy, the distance Alexis had created between them the past week, the struggle to make any friends...

Nathanael was lonely and bitter, but that was no reason for an angry outburst. Alexis didn't deserve the way he had yelled at her and called her a bitch. She didn't deserve to deal with any of his petty shit. She had her entire future ahead of her and... why would she want to bother with him? He was a crappy person with zero intention to do anything beyond exploiting scientific theories.

And he was getting nowhere...

He collapsed into the driver's seat in frustration, and slammed the door shut next to him. _Okay, Nathanael, breathe,_ he told himself, trying to tap into the breathing method he found to work for his anxiety to see if it worked here.

It didn't. After several tries it probably just made it worse and the frustration nearly made him cry. He wanted to cry.

For the nth time in so many years, Nathanael felt like having a breakdown. The guilt was tearing him apart from the inside out and he couldn't do anything about it. If he didn't keep it under control, he would have a repeat of the minor anxiety attack the previous night, which had prompted his spontaneous bar-hunting. And as someone who had had one too many breakdowns and anxiety attacks when he was alone, he realised that he couldn't be alone. He couldn't leave his _thoughts_ unattended.

Gathering his wits enough to drive, Nathanael drove out of the parking space and made his way through the city.

It was barely ten o' clock, but the traffic was crazy. His car was crawling through the traffic, but the lull in movement allowed Nathanael to relax. It allowed him to think without intrusive thoughts.

Instead, he managed to tap into the rest of his senses, take his entire being into consideration.

_He had an itch on his left toe. His hair was greasy and plastered against the back of his neck... left eye, vision slightly blurring in peripheral. Nausea was seeping into the pit of his gut. Tears burned behind his eyelids._

While waiting for a red light to become green, Nathanael let out a muffled sob. He hated being lonely. He absolutely, fucking, _hated_ it with his entire being.

While he locked himself in his room for extended periods of time, he had no sense of space and time. He was lost in his thoughts, running a mile a minute. Then, the loneliness didn't bother him as much as it usually would.

To some extent, Nathanael thought back to his sessions with his trusted psychologist. The way he had helped Nathanael not only to accept himself, but allowed him to tap into his other emotions gave the young man a sense of security.

Several brain scans had shown signs of Avant Syndrome, but a more complex version of it, given that his memory wasn't all that great and that he was still able to tap into emotions from time to time. Treatment developed into other issues such as anxiety nervosa and eating disorders in the past. Both were reasons why he had learned how to cook.

One of the techniques he found worked for him in almost any situation was _grounding_ , by doing something familiar or performing a chore. He found himself at the strip mall he and Alexis were at a week prior.

He rattled off groceries to himself and found himself walking inside. He spent the next hour or so planning and buying ingredients for a meal he so desperately hoped he wouldn't be eating alone for the sixth evening in a row.

Deciding to go for an all-vegetarian meal, using tofu as a variant for meat, he paid and took the groceries to the car. He made sure to get things that didn't need refrigerating, as he was opposed to having anything go bad.

He was feeling up for something exotic and had thought back to a recipe he had seen the other day. Grilled tofu with pineapple salsa and coconut rice.

That sounded delicious. Right?

Ugh, who was he kidding? It was probably going to end up as one of his attempted failures and he was going to regret abiding by Alexis' wishes to eat as vegetarian as possible.

 _Oh, right, Alexis._ That's why he was doing all this.

Nathanael took in his surroundings before noticing the stationery store. He remembered needing new sticky notes after he spilled a mug of hot chocolate over his notes and sticky notes, leaving it... well... sticky.

He made his way up the stairs to the store. He had forgotten in the meantime about Etienne, the cute store clerk and his gorgeous smile.

Needless to say, he was in for a surprise when he walked in, scouring the shelves in search of the sticky notes and a voice spoke up behind him.

"So, you're back again," Etienne said, startling the older boy.

Nathanael spun around so quickly he was afraid of getting whiplash. He looked down at the boy and felt palpitations in his chest that he hadn't felt with Hatori the evening prior. No sex could replicate the feeling of his heart speeding up and his face burning. How was this boy able to do just that?

"Um, I, uh, yeah," Nathanael stuttered out. His anxiety was gnawing at the back of his head and it was becoming partially annoying.

"You were staring at the same shelf for the past fifteen minutes. I assumed you needed help, sir," Etienne said, smiling innocently at Nathanael.

 _Oh, dear heavenly deities_ , he called him _sir_.

"I, uh, I'm looking for sticky notes," Nathanael managed to explain. Etienne looked up at him in a way that spoke volumes to him. He turned around, gesturing with a tilt of his head for Nathanael to follow him. He made his way over the opposite direction of the store and held out a block of sticky notes and a smaller pad.

"Which would you prefer?" Etienne asked.

Without thinking, Nathanael took the block. Etienne nodded, but asked, "Anything else?"

"Um, no, not what I can think of, right now," Nathanael said. At least his wits were back with him.

At the checkout counter Nathanael finally realised that they were alone. There was nobody behind the counter and Nathanael hadn't seen anyone else. That was also when he realised the store's door was closed.

Etienne saw him staring and spoke up. "The store closed ten minutes ago. You hadn't noticed."

"And surprisingly you hadn't noticed how crappy I look," Nathanael deadpanned.

"Oh, I noticed," Etienne confirmed and smiled cheekily at him. Meanwhile, he was having trouble with the scanner, so opted to talking. "Customer service and all that, you know."

"Customer service? Wow," Nathanael said, though it sounded sarcastic.

Silence ensued while Etienne was struggling with the machine and the scanner. Eventually he sighed and typed the barcode into the system.

"Three dollars," Etienne told him. Nathanael dug through his wallet a procured a crisp two dollar and one dollar bill respectively. Etienne took the bills and filed it into the machine.

"Hey, if you need someone to talk to, I'm open," Etienne told him, smiling shyly at him.

Nathanael has had out of body experiences before; struck by insecurity and waves of dizziness, only to find that he could see himself as if from a third person's perspective. This though, this was something completely different. He had never been so in sync with his entire system.

"Yes, I would love that. Do you mind joining me for a late brunch?" Nathanael blurted out, but as he held his hand out for Etienne to take. Nathanael could feel his heart soar when the boy accepted his offer with a shy smile.

* * *

 

  
"So, you've never been outside the country?" Etienne asked and Nathanael shook his head.

"I never had the chance, and when I moved out, my parents started travelling on their own. I would like to see Japan though, if only to see what they have to offer on a scientific basis," Nathanael confessed.

"I would like to go back to France to see my grandmother," Etienne told him. He was taking a creative approach to eating his meal and had been arranging his eggs, fries, sausages, tomatoes and mushrooms to make a smiley-face.

"Oh, that explains the slight accent. Can you speak French?" Nathanael asked, and propped another forkful of eggs into his mouth.

"Je peux, mais je ne parle pas couramment," Etienne said, slightly butchering the pronunciation on some of the words, but speaking fluently nonetheless. ("I can, but I am not fluent.")

"Ah, la langue de la passion," Nathanael shot back smoothly. ("Ah, the language of passion.")

Etienne was wide eyed at Nathanael's fluent rendition of the language and the statement of it being the language of passion. He most certainly wasn't mistaken, if the discomfort Etienne was growing into was anything to go by.

"You can speak French?" Etienne asked.

"Ah, yes, as well as Latin and Spanish," Nathanael told the boy. Needless to say the younger boy was thoroughly impressed.

After that they fell into another comfortable silence, this one much shorter than the last. Etienne had finished his artistic attempt and had taken a photo of it. Nathanael chuckled. It was adorable.

"That's too adorable too eat," Nathanael commented.

"I agree," Etienne said, "but it's a good thing I'm French. We eat bunnies."

"I don't think I like the French anymore," Nathanael deadpanned, all while thinking back to his rabbit he had as a kid. He, predictably, named it Thumper - seeing as he went through a Disney faze when he was younger.

"Don't worry, I haven't been there in years," Etienne said. "And I would never eat a rabbit. I love them too much."

"Say, what would you like to do for a job someday?" Nathanael asked.

"I would like to become a chef, but I also love kids a lot, so maybe a teacher?" Had Nathanael found his soulmate?

"And you? You're studying right now, aren't you?"

"A scientist," Nathanael answered smoothly, "or maybe a professor. Honestly, I'm not picky; I'll take what I can get."

"Oh, science. Yeah, I'm failing that," Etienne said awkwardly, albeit making it sound like an offhanded comment.

"Why?" Nathanael frowned. He may have been a prodigy, but he could not comprehend why some people just struggled with the subject.

"It's heaps of work and half of the stuff just don't make sense. Add the fact that I suck at math, I'm doomed to failure. Chemistry is easy though," Etienne explained. He heaped a bunch of fries into his mouth, seemingly not as aware of public appearances as Nathanael. It was charming.

Nathanal hummed thoughtfully. That made sense. To an extent, at least.

And that is how Nathanael found himself talking to Etienne for the rest of the morning. From complex and opinionated topics such as politics and silly conversations about cows.

For the first time in a week, Nathanael was enjoying himself. Having a brunch with a cute guy without the intent to get into his pants was refreshing. Maybe Nathanael was in love.

 _I wouldn't mind_ , Nathanael thought to himself as he smiled while Etienne prattled on about some girl in his History class.

_I really wouldn't mind falling for this guy._


	5. Chapter 4: "Je suis à la masoin!"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nathanael has a huge crush on Etienne.   
> He and Alexis make up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not gonna lie, the chapter is a mess, but I think y'all might just like the ending! This story just took a wild turn!

"You never did tell me why you looked so depressed this morning," Etienne chirped when the two of them made their way out of the restaurant. "That is... I mean... you don't have to tell me if you don't want to! You don't have to feel obligated to answer or anything, I mean, I was just concerned."

Nathanael did not answer. Up until walking into the stationery store, Nathanael had briefly forgotten about Alexis. In fact, having spent the last two hours with Etienne, he was rather hoping to completely forget about the fight and just enjoy his day. It had been a while since his mind had settled and Nathanael was actually enjoying the escape from the static.

"It's a personal matter. I'd rather not bother you with it," Nathanael replied, eyes downcast.

If Nathanael looked sad that morning, then Etienne appeared downright depressed for a moment. He looked up at Nathanael and smiled. "Well, it's up to you, but if you want to talk, you have my number. I may be three years younger than you, and I don't have a 4.0 GPA, but I do know how to listen," Etienne offered the boy with a lopsided grin.

"You know what? You're a really nice guy. The girls must flock to you. I may just take you up on the offer," Nathanael winked, "it saves me the time of visiting a psychologist."

"Well, that would be nice if I were interested in girls," Etienne deadpanned, as if commenting on the weather.

"Oh, well, that's a pity," Nathanael squeaked. He swiftly composed himself. "At least there are some lucky guys out there, then."

"Yeah, I guess..."

"Oh, I forgot; do you need a lift back home?" Nathanael asked, finally looking in Etienne's direction since they had left the store.

Etienne laughed; he was the type of person to laugh from his stomach - open, loud, and so pure. Nathanael was definitely falling for this guy. His laughter was like cocaine and Nathanael  _wanted_ it.

"Yes, I kind of do," Etienne told him.

"Well, then I'll give you a lift. Where do you live?"

* * *

 

It turned out that Etienne lived in the outskirts of the main city in a rather suburban area. In fact, it was so far away from where Nathanael lived and Etienne worked, that he had the nagging feeling that Etienne didn't really live here.

Nevertheless, Nathanael didn't push it. It may have been suspicious, but Nathanael had to trust Etienne for the time being. For all he knew, this may just be a friend's house and Etienne was looking for a way to avoid Nathanael if the near future is deemed unsafe.

He couldn't blame him.

Etienne pointed out a house, rather on the small side, but definitely larger than Nathanael's flat. It was the typical image of a white suburban home, with a small picket fence and a red tiled roof. At this point Nathanael was starting to doubt if this guy was for real.

"I'll walk you to the door," Nathanael suggested. Etienne nodded and the two climbed out, making their way to the front door.

As Etienne bent down to unlock the front gate, a giant black dog came barreling towards Etienne, and flung itself onto the younger man. Etienne seemed to have been expecting it, and caught the dog by his front paws, before gently placing the dog down.

"Bonjour, petit Malai," (Hello, little Malai) Etienne greeted the dog and scratched it behind its ears. Nathanael smiled at the sweet exchange, only to be bitten on the heel by a miniature poodle. The small thing was nipping at Nathanael's heel and while it didn't hurt Nathanael... ok, he didn't squeal. He just made a manly squeak. There's a difference!

(Who was he kidding? He had a 4.0 GPA, of course he knew there was barely a difference between a squeal and a manly squeak. He didn't need to have that IQ for such common knowledge.)

"Arrêtez! Ari!" (Stop! Ari!) Etienne scolded the dog and the animal sat back complacently, albeit growling at his owner.

"Uh, nice dog you have there," Nathanael commented, though the compliment went past his head.

"Did she bite you?" Etienne asked, bending down to inspect Nathanael's foot.

_Oh, fuck, that ass_.  _Even better, fuck_ _ **that**_ _ass_.

"Uh, yeah, but... it doesn't hurt, really, so no need to worry," Nathanael said, trying to calm down any thoughts Etienne might have. Was he going to comment on the squeak?

"Bullshit," he snapped. "She bit you; there's blood on your sock!"

Nathanael twisted his ankle so that he could look at it, and lo and behold, there was blood sifting through his sock. "Oh, blood," he murmured, rather lamely, actually.

"Come, we'll get that cleaned up before you head back home. It's the least I can do for the breakfast this morning. When was the last time you had a tetanus shot?" Etienne asked, making his way to the front door. Nathanael followed, and both Ari and Malai trotted threateningly at his side. If anything, Ari scared him more than the shaggy black dog, Malai. He had half a mind to ask what breed he was for conversation's sake, but that would be useless. Malai was obviously a Border Collie cross with something like a Golden Retriever, or maybe even a Bernese mountain dog.

"Um, about a year and a half, ago, I think?"

"Ok, so you're not going to die via poodle; that's good to hear," Etienne said.

"Uh... dog bites don't necessarily kill you," Nathanael pointed out, "but at the very least I'll have something interesting to put on my gravestone."

"Death sounds boring. Do you have anything to say to that, Mr Scientist?" Etienne mocked.

"I'll call up my pastor father and tell you what he has to say about that," Nathanael said.

That effectively shut Etienne up for the moment, at least until he yelled out to his mother in French. "Maman! Je suis à la maison!" (Mom! I am home!)

The inside of the house was as cozy as could come. The entrance split into two, paving the way to the kitchen and the living room. In the living room, from what Nathanael could see, there was a plush leather brown L-shaped couch and a giant TV at the back of the room.

The kitchen was modern and lined with silver and marble with cute little paper lanterns hanging from the roof. Nathanael half expected Etienne to have the cliché life with a little sister and a loving mother and father. In fact, the situation was just ticking boxes as they went along.

What Nathanael didn't expect was for a plump blonde lady in her mid-forties to come rushing into the kitchen yelling in German.

"Klein Junge! Warum bist du spät?!" (Directly translated: Young boy! Why are you late?)

"Mama," Etienne groaned, "Ich habe ein Freund hier!" (Mom, I have a friend here!) Nathanael was quite impressed at Etienne's ability to speak both French and German - he was under the impression that both were extremely complex languages.

"Dein Freund?" (Your boyfriend?)

"Nein! Mutter!" Etienne snapped, "Ari hat er gebissen." (No, Mom! Ari bit him!)

Etienne's mother huffed, but left the room with exaggerated hand movements and incomprehensible words in her wake.

Etienne sighed. He gestured for Nathanael to sit at the kitchen table and started rummaging through the cupboards and appeared moments later with a small plastic tupperware holder with miscellaneous medical stuff ranging from painkillers to bandages and even nasal spray.

"Uh, do you minding taking off your shoe so long?" Etienne asked while trying to open a salve tube with a needle.

"Already done," Nathanael said, gesturing to his shoe next to him. He rested his injured foot on his knee and had removed his bloody sock. The wound appeared irritated, but the pierce wounds where the teeth bit in were already scabbing over.

The next moment Etienne was on his knees in front of Nathanael, applying an anti-septic salve to his injury. It stung, but it could have been worse. Then, as he was busy wrapping Nathanael's foot with a clean bandage, Nathanael spoke up.

"Thanks for keeping me company today. I was in a bad place this morning. I mean, we're technically complete strangers and you joined me for brunch without a question about it... and, well, you cheered me up."

Etienne shrugged. "Call me crazy, but I trusted you. I like to follow my gut. It usually knows where to go; if nothing, we can be good friends. I don't have many so what's one more?"

Etienne finished the sentence by tucking the end of the bandage in under the folds.

"You should probably get going, huh? I can't keep you from your real life all day long," Etienne said.

"No, I suppose not," Nathanael said.  _Although I wish you would_.

* * *

 

When Nathanael got home with the groceries in hand, the apartment was noisy with loud music and Alexis singing from the top of her lungs, and the sound of metal banging against metal came from the kitchen. He gently placed the bags on the floor.

As Nathanael took his shoes off and placed them in the shelf next to the door, there was a sudden shriek from the kitchen and the next thing he saw was Alexis rushing to the bathroom, clutching her hand.

Through the chaotic scuffle, Nathanael followed her into the bathroom to find her holding her hand underneath the cold tap. Why she didn't do that in the kitchen, Nathanael had no idea.

"Alexis?"

Their ongoing feud seemed to have been momentarily forgotten, because Alexis looked up at her friend with what appeared to be relief. "Oh, Nath, thank goodness you're here! I don't know how a wok works," she admitted sheepishly.

"You burned yourself with the wok?" Nathanael asked, genuinely confused for a moment.

"Uh, no, the oil splattered, but the stir fry should be done," Alexis told him, hissing under her breath when the water stung.

"The burn ointment is in the cabinet in front of you; I'll go check on the stir-fry," Nathanael huffed and made his way to the kitchen. The wok was on the burner while the oil inside it kept on sizzling madly.

While the stir-fry appeared to be done, the noodles had burned to the bottom of the wok, proving to Nathanael that Alexis very well did not understand Chinese cooking. With a sigh Nathanael chucked the burnt and nearly inedible stir-fry into a sealed bowl. They were going to have to find some use for it.

That was when Alexis shuffled into the kitchen, hand covered in salve and a sheepish smile painted across her face.

"I'm sorry about this morning, Nath," she apologised. Her face was a burning red and she appeared to be steaming at the ears.

"I should say sorry too," Nathanael rebutted. "I got angry and went off on you for no reason. You didn't deserve this."

Alexis sighed. "We still need to talk though, but can we maybe do it tomorrow? I just want to have a movie night with you right now."

"I would love that. Star Wars or Star Trek?"

"Are you fucking kidding me? Star Wars, of course! Original trilogy or prequel trilogy?"

"Doesn't matter."

"Well, that's because you know shit about both."

* * *

 

"No offence, Alexis, but Anakin Skywalker seems like a whiny little crybaby," Nathanael whispered to his best friend, never tearing his eyes away from the television screen - where numerous amounts of Jedi were bravely fighting against insect-like creatures inside a colloseum. Alexis had told him what the bug things were called, but he had forgotten the name.

"He's just young and reckless," Alexis defended her favourite character as if he was a real person or friend of hers. Nathanael knew that she was just protective of the Star Wars characters, she was, after all, a typical fangirl.

"And he seems to hate the other Jedi, especially Samuel L. Jackson and the green frog."

Alexis huffed, and shook her head. "Their names are Mace Windu and Yoda, kid. They'de iconic, okay? And Anakin doesn't hate the Jedi or Mace or Yoda, he's just kind of pissed at the rules of the Jedi Order. He wants to be with Padmé Amidala, but he can't because attachment and romantic relationships are forbidden for Jedi."

"That's kind of cruel."

"Yes, it is. Now shut up so I can stare at Anakin's beautiful face." Alexis placed her forefinger on her lips, gesturing at Nathanael to keep quiet. He complied, knowing not to to test or aggravate her while she was watching her favourite movie series.

Near the end of the film, Nathanael had dozed off. He was vaguely aware of Alexis throwing a blanket over him, before darkness overcame his senses.

* * *

  
**Etienne's house, 00:45**

Etienne pulled out his phone, flinching at the glare in the darkness and swiftly composed a message. He was running out of time. This had to be his last hope.

**(Unknown number)**

_Hey, you busy? It's E. <<_

>> _Nah, man, how can I help you?_

_Do you know anything about that weed dealer at school? Think you can get me his number? <<_

>> _What the fuck, man? You wanna smoke a joint?_

_Not exactly... <<_


	6. Chapter 5: "We need new curtains."

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The answers to Etienne's secret lifestyle is being revealed, though the true story is being kept under wraps!

Sunday morning crept upon them like a child. Soft, innocent, but it certainly predicted loads of trouble. Alexis found herself blinking away the sleep when the sheer curtains in the living room failed to keep the slips of sunshine out of the room.

There was buttery popcorn scattered across the carpet from the tipped over bowl on the living room table. The TV was in its neutral state, but most certainly not off, so Alexis reached over the popcorn spill, grabbed the remote and in her sleepy state and turned off the monitor. She was vaguely aware of a fur blanket draped over her body.

Nathanael was on the other side of the U-shaped couch, sleeping peacefully. He was curled up like a child, lip slightly jutted out in a serene expression. He was clutching one of the soft throw pillows, from Alexis' old room back home, against his chest.

Alexis, feeling mischevious, picked up a piece of popcorn and chucked it in his direction. Nathanael twitched in his sleep.

Alexis threw another and Nathanael jolted upright. He glanced around in confusion, looking for the cause of his rude awakening only to find Alexis. Of course, it was Alexis. It was always Alexis.

"Morning," he grumbled, too sleepy to actually come up with something witty in response.

Alexis sat up straight, fully, before speaking up. "We need to talk."

"I know. I'm sorry about everything I said yesterday. I didn't mean it. I guess I was just lonely and a little depressed," Nathanael admitted.

"Was it because I neglected spending time with you?" Alexis asked, bringing her feet up to rest on the couch, "or was it something else?"

Nathanael hesitated.

"I guess it was a little bit of both," Nathanael confessed, all the while cuddling with one of the pillows. He still looked sleepy, but it wasn't like it was bothering him all that much. Nonetheless he sat up straight, lest he wanted to tip over in the middle of the conversation and fall asleep while Alexis was rambling.

Alexis sighed; a heavy sigh like she was finally understanding the weight of Nathanael's accusations. "Nathanael, you have to talk to people; you can't tell me you've been sitting in this apartment just studying."

"Hey, I go out! I went shopping just yesterday!" Nathanael defended. "And I went to class, so I haven't really been here all week."

"Before Hatori, have you even had a full conversation with someone since we got here? Myself not included," Alexis said before Nathanael could open his mouth.

Nathanael fell silent, eyes falling to the plush pillow in his lap. Had it really been only three people he had spoken to since moving to New York? Alexis, Hatori and Etienne? In fact, has it been that the most he had spoken to was to Etienne, the innocent high schooler with the adorable smile and to-die-for dimples?

Yeah... it had been.

Nathanael only realized he had zoned out when Alexis sat next to him and pulled him into a side hug. He shifted to face her and wrapped his arms around her waist, head against her chest, resting awkwardly against her bosom.

"I'm so sorry..." Alexis whispered, rubbing against his back with her fist. "I never realized how lonely you were... are you okay? You don't need to see a shrink again?"

Nathanael bit back a sob, choking on air, but he managed to shake his head. To his surprise, he was not the first to start crying, especially when he felt tears dripping on his scalp. Alexis' tears opened the flood gates. All the tears he had left in the previous day quickly slipped, followed by several choked sobs before the heaving started. Sometime during their sob-fest the two had migrated to a cuddling position; Alexis coddling and holding Nathanael to her chest in a motherly way. God, she felt so guilty.

She lived under the same roof as her unbiological brother, but let Zeus strike her down if she ever missed this again. Holding a grown man in her arms as he sobbed because of loneliness, of all things... she hated herself.

Alexis thought back to Amanda's words about her being the one at fault, and Alexis was slowly starting to realize that the girl may have been right. Then again, this fight and this breakdown had been a long time coming.

"Nath," Alexis spoke up when he calmed down, "I am so sorry. You can blame me all you like; I shouldn't have forgotten about you. It was thoughtless."

"Yeah, you shouldn't have," Nathanael bit back, but his tone was far from either derogatory or caustic. Alexis didn't reply. She knew she was at fault and Nathanael had every right to be mad at her. "So, um, as I was looking for some company I called your parents, because... well, anyways, I called them and apparently they are in Nigeria on an outreach right now, so..."

"Oh that's cool. How long are they going to be there?" Alexis asked.

"They're there for another month," Nathanael said.

As silence fell, Nathanael soon spoke up again.

"Hey, Alexis?"

"Yeah?"

"We need new curtains."

"Nath?"

"Yeah?"

"You're the best. I love you, lil' brother."

***

Shifting back to being friends was easier than expected. Throughout the day the two managed to reconnect and listened to each other in a way that they hadn't listened to each other before.

The shock of having their first actual fight, small as it may have been, for the first time in twenty years had shaken them a little. They tread on eggshells around each other for the greater part of the morning, still unsure about how much the other had changed.

The broken eggs eventually disappeared in the tension, only to be replaced by a cloud of flour and literal broken eggs on the floor.

Maybe waffles weren't their best idea yet.

Nonetheless, Nathanael smeared a giant dollop of batter across her cheek. Alexis, who hadn't showered in more than twenty-four hours, gasped and turned her body in Nathanael's direction. 

"What did you just do?" Alexis asked.

"Nothing," Nathanael lied, all the while smiling to himself as he mixed the batter. Alexis had halted in her beating of the egg whites when Nathanael had distracted her. It already had a fluffy consistency, but it wasn't enough. In Nathanael's opinion, that is. Alexis was ready to dump the white fluff into the mixing bowl.

"Liar," Alexis bit back. She scooped some of the egg whites and flicked it onto Nathanael's mop of hair. To her misfortune, she did it too gently, so Nathanael didn't even realise it was there.

Alexis frowned. That wouldn't do. Alexis glanced around the table while Nathanael unwittingly kept stirring, lost in his own world. It was amusing how a simple act of stirring a mixture could hold Nathanael's utmost focus.

Alexis' gaze landed on one of the small eggs left on the table. She hesitated, but found herself folding her hands over the spherical object. Nathanael was frowning down at the batter, so it was apparent that he had not noticed what Alexis was up to yet.

Alexis grinned, and with a swing she smushed the egg flat against the side of his head.

Nathanael gasped in shock, curling his shoulders in on itself because of the cold.

"Oh my... Alexis, I hate you!" Nathanael said, all the while cackling so his insult went over her head.

"No, you don't!" Alexis teased, but her words fell to death as Nathanael flicked the sugar in her direction. "Oh, you're on!"

Nathanael laughed. The two flicked the remaining ingredients on the table at each other, barely missing and making a general mess of the kitchen. Alexis had ducked under the table only to appear on the other side.

"Haha! Try to get me now!" Alexis jeered in his general direction. Nathanael laughed at her childish antics, but fell for the bait and rushed after her with white hands.

She shrieked and tripped over the carpet in her haste, landing clumsily on the couch before falling off. Nathanael took his chance, pouncing her as he tickled her. She shrieked even louder as Nathanael prodded at her waist and underarms, narrowly avoiding any erogenous zones.

"Oh! Fuck! Nath, hahaha, nooo! Stop that! Oh my fuck, s-stop tickling me! I can't breathe!" Alexis heaved in between fits of laughter.

Nathanael eventually stopped and collapsed next to Alexis on his back. She was breathing heavily as she tried to get the oxygen back into her system.

"So... I'm assuming that was your revenge?" Alexis asked, still heaving under her breath.

"Yeah. We're good now, aren't we?" Nathanael asked.

"I'll say we're fine. Though those waffles aren't going to finish themselves!"

That left Nathanael and Alexis collapsing into another fit of giggles, laughing as hard as they had when they were kids, surrounding a table with their friends as everyone competed viciously in the friendship killing game: Monopoly.

It had been years since then, but as Nathanael and Alexis struggled to gain back their composure, Nathanael could not think of a better way to patch up their friendship together.

"Hey, wanna play a board game when the waffles are done?" Nathanael asked.

"Sure," Alexis answered without missing a beat. "Or rather, Jenga. I'm tired of you beating me with your IQ!"

Nathanael chuckled. He always won in Jenga. He was the undefeated king. Nevertheless, he humoured her and the two found themselves playing the building game that evening.

***

Nathanael lost. He'd have tried to convince anybody who heard about it that there was a fly who sat on one of the bricks, distracting him in the act and effectively toppling over the once-stable wooden table. Nobody would have believed him. The truth was: Nathanael had bumped it by accident.

***

Etienne grumbled, but slipped into the office nonetheless. This job was getting boring. He had done the whole "posing as a druggie" gig a few months back and that had raised some eyebrows among the people in his class.

Even the resident slut was excused from her infidelity in favour of gossiping about the new kid.

The mysterious new kid who sat at the back of the class, had straight A's and B's in every subject except for Science. The weird kid who had slipped away during the semester drug raid. That weird kid who willingly never spoke to anyone unless they were in the delinquent crowd...

The same kid who is in the principal's office on a weekly basis.

Etienne's employer was seated next to the principal, her legs folded neatly under her pencil skirt. Her hazel hair had escaped it's usual scalp peeling bun and was now resting freely on her shoulders.

"Hello, Etienne. How did the assignment go?" she asked, casually flicking her hair over her right shoulder. She was only a few years his senior and Etienne knew she was flirting with him. He just did not have the heart to tell her that he was actually gay.

"It was good," he threw the packet in the direction of the desk. It skidded across the surface and stopped right in front of the principal. "So... am I done here?"

"Not quite. What's the status report? Is this the last of it?" the principal spoke up, gesturing vaguely to the packet of pills in front of him.

"Yeah, I had CJ arrested. The police got there when I was making the deal. They let me go because I showed them my badge," Etienne explained. "The sophmores started this new craze though, so it was rather easy. It's a new pill on the market. They call it B-9. It's like steroids and marijuana together, though I've seen people have epileptic fits because of those stuff."

_Funny. That drug was anything but benign._

"Thank you, Etienne. I appreciate your hard work," the employer told him. "You are dismissed."

"Oh, by the way," Etienne spoke up, "Do you think that after this payment I can have the next six months or so off to get my grades back up?"

The lady hesitated, but nodded. "Yes, of course, but we'll keep you on standby."

"Thanks, Olivia," Etienne said. The elder agent just smiled at him, that same wistful smile she gave any other agent his age.

"You're our best agent, Etienne. Just stay away from the people who can figure you out and you won't lose your job."

Etienne nodded, but he could not help but think back to Nathanael at the mention of someone figuring him out. He had researched the male the evening after they had hung out, because the situation had been giving him red lights ever since he met Nathanael.

It was then, after an intensive Google search, that Etienne found Nathanael as one of the top graduates in the country and having represented their country internationally more than once due to his high intelligence. He never ranked higher than fifteen, but on an international level, he was a critically acclaimed genius.

A genius who had no intention of making a difference. He was a dying-out prodigy, and Etienne was skeptical. Etienne had a honed in sixth sense, and his gut was telling him to get to know Nathanael; and fast.

_He's too smart for his own good... Seriously? In the top 400 of our country?_

Etienne was doomed.

It was then, as he made his way out of the office that he pulled his phone out, heading all the way to the C-block where he had his Biology classes.

He swiftly composed a message, giving it a once over before sending it to the intended recipient: Nathanael.

_Hey, can we talk? I need a shoulder and idk who to turn to... <<_

He shut his phone and turned off the sound. Next plan of action:  _don't die of boredom during Biology._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for the short chapter, but this is a little hasty. I finished a project with the timespan of two weeks in a day, so I'm stumped.


	7. Chapter 6: "The Wing Woman."

  
At around five o'clock, Alexis was pulling on her trainers along with her jogging pants, a grey tank top and a warm jacket. Nathanael had opted out of jogging with her, mainly because he was not nearly as fit as the blonde. Ever since moving in, she went for runs that lasted at least two hours, both in the morning and the evening if she had the time for it.

When she came out of her room with her hair pulled up into a messy ponytail, she apparently had a change of heart about letting Nathanael stay behind.

"Nath, why don't you just join me?"

Nathanael had a built in, very effective metabolism. He did not need to go for a jog in the urban jungle that was New York.

"No, thank you," he told her, firmly denying anything while he was doing the dishes. He himself was still in his sweats from when he had run out on her the previous day.

Alexis pouted. "Why not? It will be so much fun! You'll see! Besides, Jules and Mandy can't join me today because they're both working! Now _you_ get to join me!"

"You say that like it's an honour to run with you," Nathanael deadpanned.

"This morning you told me you were lonely and now you're denying my hospitality?"

"Pretty much," Nathanael quipped as he finished up drying the last of the dishes and packed them away.

"Come on!" Alexis whined. She made her way until she was standing right beside Nathanael with her arms wrapped around his neck. She was hanging off of him like an octopus and she knew Nathanael hated it with a passion. "Why don't you ever do things that I like?"

"I watched Star Wars with you last night!"

"That doesn't count," Alexis said, adamantly refusing to accept Nathanael's half-baked excuses. "You need to come jogging with me, in any case! You're developing a fat lil' tummy right around here!"

She jabbed and pinched Nathanael in the stomach, effectively hurting him.

"Ow! Okay, okay! Why is physical pain your answer to everything?" Nathanael hissed, rubbing at the bruised spot on his torso. "And I'm not getting fat!"

Alexis sighed. She herself did not want Nathanael to slip back into his nasty old weight-loss techniques, and while his psychologist insisted that he should not bother himself with other's opinions, Alexis still refused to accept the fact that Nathanael was gaining weight... _again_.

"Maybe not, but this may just be good for you!" Alexis insisted. "Exercise is a remedy for every kind of physical ailment."

"Except cancer."

 

"Oh, shut up."

  
Nathanael's phone buzzed and he reached out to grab it, but Alexis shot her hand out to stop him from doing so.

"Nu-uh. You don't need this right now! What you need is for your body to sweat out all the negative energy in your system and just breathe!"

Nathanael sighed, but reluctantly agreed to go with her. He went to his room to get his running shoes and when he returned Alexis was already waiting for him at the door with a bright blue waterbottle in her hand.

"So, how far are we going to run today?" Nathanael asked.

"Well, taking you into consideration and the fact that I had shin splints the other day, I'll say about six miles?" Alexis said.

"What? Are you sure you're taking me into consideration?" Nathanael asked. His voice was nearing a desperate high pitch.

"Yes, of course," Alexis said. She unlocked the front door, and led the way down the creaky stairs. Alexis had learned a while back that a static warm-up was the best for a warm-up, so she was thankful for the long flights of stairs.

"I'm going to die," Nathanael complained, jogging behind her.

As the two of them jogged down the stairs they passed the lobby where the landlady was behind the desk. She had her grey hair up in a bun, decorated by colourful beads and pins. She looked really hip; Alexis approved.

"Hello, ma'am!" Alexis greeted cheerfully.

"Hello, darling! Enjoy your run!" the elder lady greeted. Nathanael was shocked by the kindness; this wasn't the passive-aggressive lady they had met upon first moving into the building. Nonetheless, he waved half-heartedly in her direction and followed Alexis outside.

"What was that all about?"

"I have no idea," Alexis confessed, gaining speed. "She's weird like that. Sometimes she's nice, and other times she looks like she wants to kill me!"

"A lot of people want to kill you, Alexis," Nathanael teased.

"You included?" Alexis joked, dodging a fire extinguisher.

"Not recently," Nathanael admitted. "But yeah, sometimes."

* * *

Five miles later Nathanael was heaving. They were only a block and a half away from the building they lived in, but he was ready to collapse. Alexis, on the other hand, looked as though she was barely feeling a thing. While there was sweat dripping from her forehead, there was no actual signs of her having run five miles.

"Can... ha... we just... stop for... ah... a minute?" Nathanael heaved, having already stopped with his hands resting on his knees while he tried to get his breath back.

Alexis stood next to him when she noticed he had stopped. She handed him her bottle of water and Nathanael greedily drank nearly half of the remaining water.

"We won't stop, but we can continue walking," Alexis told him. Nathanael nodded; still to breathless to verbally reply.

As the two made their way back home with Alexis chattering about nonsensical things, they decided that Nathanael had to hit the shower first, because he "stank like roadkill doused in vinegar". Nathanael knew Alexis was overreacting, but a sniff of his shirt had him agreeing with her. When they returned to the flat, Nathanael was surprised he even made it to the shower without collapsing. Jelly-legged he took a shower lasting nearly 15 minutes. About an hour after their jog, Nathanael found himself on the couch in the living room wearing a clean set of sweats and his phone in his hand. He finally noticed the message from Etienne.

_Hey, can we talk? I need a shoulder and idk who to turn to..._

Nathanael was a few hours late in responding, but he texted out a reply in any case:

_Yeah, sure, what can I help you with?_

He wasn't surprised that Etienne did not reply immediately and instead made his way to the kitchen to start dinner. If warming up leftovers even counted as dinner. When he was done, Etienne still had not responded, but Nathanael did not think much of it. It was only when he was in bed with a book on Isaac Newton and Alexis was busy in the living room with a project that the new message came in.

_I don't know who to talk to._

_I'm failing science and my mom is going to kill me._

Nathanael glanced at the book he had tossed to the side in favour of the message. Oh, wow, foreshadowing much?

_Oh, wow, that sucks._

_Anything I can help with?_

The replies came quite quickly. 

  
_Oh, well, this may sound precocious, but you said that you're good at it??_

_Mind tutoring me?_

Nathanael could feel himself smiling.

  
_I don't think you used that word right, but sure._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Thanks for reading this chapter and sorry if it was not up to par. :( I've been really depressed the past week and I'm not doing so good physically either, but here you have it!
> 
> Enjoy the rest of your week and see you next Saturday!


	8. Chapter 8: "Meme-ingfull!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's finally here! The latest chapter!(灬♥ω♥灬) I've been feeling a lot better, emotionally!ʕ·͡ᴥ·ʔ I know it's not an excuse for not writing, but I didn't want to churn out something super depressing. *⁂((✪⥎✪))⁂*

"Nathanael, come here for a second," his professor called out after the lesson. The rest of the students have already filed out whereas he had momentarily stayed behind because his book bag's zip wasn't cooperating. So, as he was about to leave, the professor had called him to the front. He managed to push down the anxiety threatening to boil over. This wasn't the time for nervous stuttering.

"Ah, yes sir?" He asked the moment he was on the platform in the front of the room.

"You wrote a thesis on magnetic engineering when you were 17. You made a point on science fiction becoming reality. Explain that to me," his professor told him. Initially, Nathanael thought he was in trouble (anxiety, thou art a heartless bitch), but this...

Wait... his professor read that?

"I... uh... well, when I was sixteen I read the I.S.A series in which one of the main characters rode a hoverboard using the earth's magnetism, so in theory I thought that it would be possible, of one would be able to control the magnetism. Making the field in which the board moves, smaller, you can actually have people ride hoverboards. It's like the concept of the bullet trains in Japan, just several times smaller. Then I thought about making the field itself bigger."

Nathanael took a quick breath. His pulse rate was quickening in anticipation. It had been long since he had gotten so excited about something. It was actually really refreshing.

"Now, of course the control would drastically decrease, but the average person of 75 kilograms should be able to, with the use of the board, control the movements due to the increased weight, though it isn't completely sure how the board would react in a larger, stronger magnetic field."

"And how would one ensure the safety of the person steering the hoverboard?" his professor was leaning back in his chair by this point, head resting on his folded knuckles.

"Well, at first, I would like to test the reaction of a person on a thinner field. If it stays level, then I would like to try to control the hoverboard itself by manipulating the force field beneath it. That way, the creators have more control."

The professor seemed to be contemplating something as he stared into the distance. All of a sudden, he sat up and flipped through a thick stack of papers stapled together. Nathanael recognised it as his theses.

Nathanael hesitantly spoke up. "Sir... I, I realise the theory sounds ridiculous, but if Nikola Tesla could control electricity, what is to say we can't control magnetism?"

His professor looked up, staring Nathanael straight in the eye.

It unnerved Nathanael, but he was confident in his theory. If nothing else, he had tons of other research to back anything in that theses up.

"I fully agree with you Nathanael. Now, believe it or not, I am not a stalker, but I have done some research on your background. You were the Dux-student in High School, you have competed in the international Math's Olympiads and came first four times in a row, your IQ is up there among the greatest... why are you here?"

"I... uh... excuse me, sir?" Nathanael schooled his face to hide his bafflement, but he was pretty sure his professor had seen it.

"Why our rundown school with hardly any of the facilities schools like Harvard, Yale, hell, even Oxford would have taken you in!?"

"It's the closest school to Julliard, where my sister goes," Nathanael explained, suddenly feeling the anxiety crash down on him in a moment of insecurity. He could almost feel his professor judging him behind his glasses on why did this kid just let his potential go and where is the justice in the world and why hasn't he...

"That is a very noble answer. You must love your sister very much," the professor told him, interrupting Nathanael's train of thought.

"Yes, she is. She is my best friend and the reason I wanted to prove myself. She is the reasons I wrote all my theses and the reason I... yeah. She means the world to me," Nathanael admitted.

"I want you to work with the fifth years. There is a small group of them, about seven who will be working on your exact theory. In the meantime, I've been wondering if you would not prefer doing this syllabus online. It appears to me that you are uncomfortable working in the presence of other students, and we have options for that. You don't  _need_  to be in class to pass. This isn't High School."

"I would love that, sir!" Nathanael exclaimed, nearly jumping at the opportunity to work on a different platform. "Then... it could be possible that I can take another course that has been overlapping with this one, correct?"

"Well, yes, but the only one parallel to this specific course is linguistics and creative writing," his professor explained. "Though it's not too late to apply for the different courses. You'll need to speak with administration or log into your student account. It should not be too difficult."

"No, no, of course not," Nathanael said, agreeing with him. "I'll.... I'll think about it... and discuss it with my mother."

"Yes, yes, of course," his professor agrees, "Now off you go. I have another lecture in thirty minutes." The elder male smiles at Nathanael. Nathanael blinked at the professor, suddenly shell-shocked at the affection in those eyes, hidden in the softness in his smile and laced in between the crows' feet beside his eyes.

Nathanael's heart stuttered painfully in his chest.

"Goodbye, sir," he greets and makes his way out of the classroom.

He rushed out of the school grounds, running towards the car he had parked around the corner of the school. He had never been more grateful for his laziness at times, glad to make it to the silence of his car. He really needs to make a decision. Was he going to help out on the project? Did he have any intention to take another course?

When he graduated high school, he had a lengthy discussion with his English teacher. She had encouraged him to be himself and was the reason he had even started writing in his free time. He will admit, it had been a nice way to relax.

Maybe he should consider taking it on again? It could be a way to think this through.

He settled back into his seat before driving off. Now... all he had to do was go do some research and find that rough draft of that novel he was busy with...

***

"AMANDA! I will kill you if you post that!"

"Ooh, death threats? I'm terrified," the shorter girl mocked, thumb hovering precariously over the  _post_  button.

"You better be!" Julija was squirming in Alexis' hold, and she was momentarily grateful for the weight training she had done that morning at the gym. On the other hand, her muscles were going to kill her!

Julija made a rash move, throwing her entire body out and upside down in order to get away from Alexis' grip. It somehow succeeded, but just as Julija was about to lunge for her phone, the world seemed to slow down.

Alexis had her arm outstretched in a hopeless attempt to grab at Julija. The sunlight glaring through the window cradled Julija's finger. Her body leaped through the air, hand outstretched in front of her.

Bang!

Julija had air-tackled Amanda and now the two had crash landed on the floor. The phone flew out of Amanda's grip, skidding across the room.

A deadly silence reigned the living space.

Alexis watched helplessly as the loading icon on the screen stopped loading. From where she was standing she could still see the icon button popping up in the taskbar. Picture posted!

Oh.

At least the worst was over, Alexis thought to herself, nearly sighing in relief.

That is until Julija sprung up, stock-straight, glaring at Amanda. What she said next was said in a tone of voice that Alexis was sure would mean eternal damnation.

"I can't believe you," Julija huffed. "You posted a stupid meme about me eating pizza! You know I hate it when people see me eat!"

So _that_ was the issue!

"Jewel, c'mon, don't be ridiculous," Amanda huffed. "Look, hardly anybody is going to see it! If it's such a big deal then I'll just delete it, okay?"

Julija rolled her eyes and huffed, but eventually conceded. "I hate it when you do that."

"You hate a lot of things about me, but look at us; we're still friends!" Amanda cheered. Julija knew that staying mad at Amanda never worked out, but despite that she tried to remain valiant in her attempt.

That is, until Alexis snorted, barely able to control her laughter. She bent over in two, collapsing on the couch behind her due to her inability to control her laughter.

As she cackled, Amanda and Julija only stared at her. Amanda still had not stood up from her spot, but had made herself comfortable on the carpet. It could not be comfortable, but she did not appear to be injured.

"What is so funny?" Julija demanded, hands placed on her skinny hips. She was pouting and looked rather ridiculous with the way she was standing.

"Yeah," Amanda chimed in, "What's so funny?"

"You two! You're arguing over the most ridiculous shit!"

"Memes are not ridiculous! It's a matter of life and death! Memes are important!" Amanda insisted.

Alexis wiped away a fake tear, chuckling all the while. "Gosh, I love you two!"

"You better!" Julija exclaimed and plastered herself to Alexis' lap. The blonde just laughed and wrapped her arms around Julija's waist.

"Hey, Amanda, I promised you I would braid your hair! Come here!" Julija said, calling out to her friend. It appeared as though the meme issue had abated, though someone should really think about picking up Amanda's cellphone...

Nonetheless the three girls found themselves in a braid train about an hour later. To neither of the three's knowledge, Julija's brother had decided to drop by.

Amanda, who had finished her hair thanks to Julija, was at the back of the cycle. She wasn't paying attention to what was going around her, too busy intently listening to Alexis chattering about nonsensical things.

Andrey chuckled softly at the sight, but set his eyes on his prey.

The shriek that emanated from Amanda the moment Andrey had placed his hands on her bare shoulders caused Alexis to jump in reaction away from Julija. She had her hands up in a fighting stance, ready to attack. Neko ashi dachi to be precise, fists clenched above her chest.

"Andrey! Don't do that!" Amanda berated him, her demeanor chastising. Andrey just laughed and pulled her in for an awkward hug over the couch.

"Ah, don't be like that, Mandy!" He teased.

"I can be any way I want; you don't just touch a woman like that out of the blue!"

Alexis relaxed her stance.

"She's right, you know," Julija chirped. "And what are you doing here anyways?"

"I brought food; thought you'd like some," Andrey explained. He gestured vaguely to the kitchen, from whence Alexis could smell grilled meat and steamed vegetables. Julija lit up and dodged behind him to the kitchen. Amanda followed soon after, leaving Alexis behind with Andrey. He seemed nice enough, despite the scare.

"You must be Alexis," he spoke up. His voice had a nice, charming baritone. It was enticing, Alexis would admit, but she had stronger defences than that. "Julija told me about you."

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Alexis mustered.

Andrey grinned, but didn't say a word as he made his way to the kitchen.

***

"Okay, but seriously though," Amanda spoke up as she finished up the last of her spicy chicken, "What is with all this gay propagandist? Like, I'm not against gays or anything, but showing it off like all the time? Not cool."

"Yeah, and it's not even about the gays, it's PDA in general. It makes me sick," Julija commented. 

At this point in the conversation Alexis had kept her mouth shut, eternally grateful that Nathanael wasn't there to hear their rude comments.

"You know what makes me want to puke?" Andrey spoke up, "Gay guys."

The anger and humiliation had been simmering in Alexis' gut, but when she snapped; she snapped.

"Well maybe you shouldn't deepthroat so much," Alexis griped. The reaction was instantaneous; Amanda and Julija started cackling while Andrey only stared at her with his mouth gaping.

Alexis sighed; the comment did nothing to settle her distaste. She had to leave.

"Sorry, I've got to go," Alexis said, flinging her handbag over her shoulder as she stood up. "I didn't realise the time and it's my turn to cook dinner."

(That was a lie. Alexis didn't even know  _how_  to cook.)

As she made her way out of the large studio flat, she reminded herself;  _Nathanael should never meet Andrey Kublanova. Not even over my dead body._


	9. Chapter 9: "Thinking out loud."

_The number you have dialed is not available_ _._

_The number you have dialed is not available._

_If you wish to leave a voicemail, please press_ _'_ _one_ _'._

"Hey, Mom, I really need to talk to you... please call me back. Okay, bye."

His thumb hovered over the call button again. He dropped his phone on his lap, and nearly a minute later the screen turned black. He had not been able to come in contact with his mother for the past week, and now when he had the  _need_  to call, she had not been able to answer. He knew that his mother was a busy woman, but considering she was the one paying for his studies, it was imperative.

He sighed, but went on with his day. He was not going to let this get him down. He pulled his laptop from the coffee table and placed it on his lap. Alexis was not home yet, so he assumed she had gotten lunch wherever she was.

As he pulled up a document on string theory, he started studying with half a mind. His phone was resting on the armrest now, still black. That is, until a green light started flashing. He picked up the phone, curiously glancing at it. The green light was meant for any incoming messages, rather than any app notifications.

Who on Earth would feel the need to contact him? It was not like he had any friends to speak of, except for Alexis, and those who he had as friends were now either studying or back home. It was not like he was going to see any of them any time soon.

When Nathanael finally noticed who it was, he realized that it was Etienne.

_Hey, it's Etienne. You said you would tutor me?_

Nathanael blinked. Oh, yeah, he had told the boy he would help in. He had nearly forgotten about the boy, what with the last week being so hectic.

_Yes, of course._

_I have a test tomorrow, and I'm a little stressed out. May I come over? I'm sooooo sorry about the hassle, but I really am concerned_ _._

Nathanael smiled softly. He knew how the stress would cripple a person. He had seen Alexis get sick weeks before an exam due to her stressing herself out. He had never had the issue himself, but he knew.

_Of course._

He sent the address alongside the message. Etienne shot back another message a few moments later, thanking him and telling him that he would see him within the next twenty minutes.

Nathanael found himself smiling at the imminent guest. He liked Etienne. As a person, and he used to like him as a romantic interest. He just hoped that seeing the younger boy again would not make any unnecessary emotions bubble up.

He glanced around their small apartment, trying to figure out the best spot for studying. The kitchen was cramped and bound to cause some personal space issues. Alexis' bedroom was off-limits - he didn't want to risk a sock to the jaw or a fatal knee to the crotch. His bedroom was definitely off-limits unless Nathanael wanted annoying fantasies to also make a visit.

That left him with the living room. One glance at the coffee table left Nathanael was moaning in despair. It was stacked with textbooks; notes were scattered across the expanse. Nathanael sighed, but collected the books in his arms and sorted through his notes. That alone took five minutes, leaving him with another fifteen minutes to kill before Etienne came over.

He pulled up his laptop once again, and continued reading.

* * *  
A resounding knock came from the front door, notifying Nathanael of his guest. He unplugged his earphones, shut his laptop screen and made his way over to the front door.

Etienne was behind it, just as Nathanael expected. He appeared well-groomed this time around with his hair combed back. Somehow it managed to highlight his blue eyes even more. His messenger bag around his shoulder seemed to be hanging onto the seems, old and battered leather.

"Hey, you made it! I'm glad you didn't get lost," Nathanael said, maybe a bit too cheerily, but whose fault was that?

Etiennr chuckled, and waved him off dismissively. "I've been navigating New York on my own since I've hit puberty. And besides, you literally live a block away from the library."

"You used Google maps, didn't you?"

Etienne frowned cutely. "That's for me to know and for you to never find out."

Nathanael chuckled. He obviously used Google maps. Even the most skilled navigators got lost in the concrete jungle of New York. Nathanael guided Etienne to the living room literally a meter or so away from them, gesturing for him to take a seat. "Can I get you anything to drink? Juice? Water? Coffee?"

"How old-fashioned are you?" Etienne teased, while he was getting his books and stationery ready. "And tea would be nice, just not of the English variety."

Nathanael scoffed. "You think I am such a heathen that I would allow English tea into my house? That crap is bitter. No, I have authentic Japanese tea."

Etienne chuckled, watching silently as Nathanael got the tea leaves together. "You sound like some sort of tea connoisseur."

Nathanael drained the tea leaves, decidedly ignoring Etienne in favour of making sure there weren't any nasty pieces of leaves still stuck in the filter.

"I  _am_  a tea connoisseur, thank you very much," Nathanael explained, meticulously placing the tea mugs, sugar and milk on a tray. Etienne didn't look up until Nathanael was hovering over the table, unsure about where to put the tea tray with Etienne's books scattered all over the little table.

He put it on the couch. Etienne chuckled under his breath. "You look like a housewife."

"Do you want your tea or not?" Nathanael grumbled, unimpressed by the comment.

Etienne whined at being denied his chosen warm drink, making childish grabby hands in Nathanael's general direction. "Of course I want tea; I'm cold! Please don't deny me of your glorious tea and equally glorious brain! I'll be an honourable guest, I swear!"

Nathanael rolled his eyes, but handed over the mug. He gestured vaguely to the milk and sugar, but Etienne waved him off and took a gulp of the tea, all black.

"I'm lactose intolerant and dislike sugar. Or, well, my stomach dislikes sugar," Etienne explained. Nathanael nodded meekly as a reply and got himself a mug. He poured in a generous amount of milk and sugar thanks to his sweet tooth. As he sat down, he took a glance at the work Etienne had laid out in front of them like an offering to the gods. Or a sacrificial ceremony; frankly, Nathanael was too scared to ask.

"Okay, so you have to tell me what's the issue here. From what it looks like, I'll probably be able to explain almost everything that's in here. These stuff are basics."

Etienne acquired an odd look of nervousness, before stuttering out, "I um... It's actually not the chemistry that is terrible, in fact I'm rather good at it and... but actually the real issue here is the physics. Velocity and all that stuff just doesn't want to sink in. And it's not the basics actually, it's the mathematics to it that I don't get! For some reason I just can't seem to get it-"

Nathanael grabbed a test paper sticking out of the textbook in front of Etienne and made it his job of studying it. He then, after a few seconds, started looking around for another piece of paper, but when he didn't find anything close to what he was looking for, he looked up to Etienne.

"Do you study from your textbook or do you have notes?"

"I... uh, I hate the textbooks, so I usually take notes in class and then I supply the extra details I left out, at home."

"May I have your notes you used to study your formulas from?"

Etienne shuffled through his notes he had clumsily stuffed in another textbook until he found the one. It took Nathanael a total of five seconds of scanning to notice what was wrong. At first, he kept a poker face, hiding behind his glasses, but then dropped it in favour of grabbing an annoyingly red pen. He scribbled, the scratching sound residing and biting into the silence.

His eyes slipped to Etienne who was watching Nathanael intently, while biting his lip in a manner that should have appeared suggestive, but was rather more concerning. The spot where Etienne was nibbling on his lower lip had started to look irritated and red, little drops of blood pooling at the serrated edges.

"You are going to sound like a massive idiot today Etienne; fair warning, it will happen again," Nathanael explained.

"Give me your worst," Etienne teased.

"Nah, I'll give you _your_  worst. It's worse than mine," Nathanael explained, "basically, four of your formulas were incorrect. Add to the fact that on the ones that you do know, you don't seem to understand what you're writing."

Etienne gaped, but allowed Nathanael to delve into an in-depth description on how the formulas actually worked, rather than speak up about anything. Holy damn, that was so embarrassing! How stupid could he get?

They spent at least another hour on that. Somewhere in that time-span, Nathanael had migrated to Etienne's side, monitoring every note he made and watching intently as he was working out several problems. Nathanael was slightly exhausted, and had continued watching Etienne's movements while his chin rested on Etienne's shoulder.

Alexis burst in somewhere between an hour and two hours later, hair disheveled and coat wrapped haphazardly around her waist. She took one glance at the two students, huffed, and made her way to the kitchen.

Nathanael shrugged to himself, not thinking much of it. He, almost without thought, grabbed Etienne's hand he was writing with, directing it in another direction. While Etienne's hand was still gripped tightly in his, he scribbled something with the pen in his hand, before he let Etienne continue. Etienne was nearly sitting in the older male's lap with how close the two had become, but neither made a move to separate.

Alexis then rushed out, shouting something about granola bars. Nathanael ignored her in favour of lazily compiling a set of complex questions for Etienne, with several annoying subsections. Etienne muttered something in French which Nathanael did not quite catch.

"What was that?"

"Oh, nothing," the blond replied swiftly, "I was just thinking out loud."

Nathanael hummed. After a few more minutes of this, Etienne let out an inhuman sound, as if crying out in despair. "Can we stop? We've been at this for two hours! My brain is fried."

Nathanael's yawn was the only reply Etienne needed. He stood up to take the mugs and the empty milk jug back to the kitchen.

"Okay, but we have to get back to studying after about another thirty minutes, otherwise we'll never get done with all this."

Etienne agreed wholeheartedly. The duo found themselves sitting on the couch, both equally as mentally exhausted as the other.

"Gosh, my skull feels like it's being used as drum," Etienne complained. Nathanael hummed, too drained of energy properly respond.

Nathanael slumped over, resting his head on Etienne's lap. "Wake me up after thirty minutes. I need a power nap."

Etienne hummed, and within seconds Nathanael was passed out. Etienne sighed, running his fingers gently through the curly ebony strands of Nathanael's hair. He gently removed the elder male's frames, and placed them delicately on the coffee table. Admittedly, he was hardly paying attention to the time, focusing rather on Nathanael. He was surprised at how fast he was able to fall asleep. Maybe he was really that exhausted and Etienne had invaded?

He hoped not; that would make him feel really guilty.

Nathanael sleeping was far different from Nathanael awake. The major difference was the lines around his eyes softening like all his troubles disappeared. He would give little hums in his sleep, like a more delicate version of snoring.

Etienne worked through the knots of his hair, careful not to wake Nathanael. Maybe he should stop thinking like a lovesick idiot. It wasn't like he could have him.

" _Mon dieu_ , why can't I have you?"

Etienne knew the answer, and he hated it. He hated keeping secrets from his lovers, and to put Nathanael through that?

_Over his dead body._


End file.
